The Natural Path
by HerEasternSea
Summary: What happened if Bella never jumped, and Edward came back...but not before things with Jacob got deeper. JacobBellaEdward triangle.
1. The Alternative

**AN: I had no intention of writing a Twilight fanfic, nevermind one that would be more than just a one-shot like I typically write. This is what happens when I need something to do to keep me from falling asleep in class, because my Greek drama professor is the most boring old man in existence. **

**This is my version of what might happen if Bella never jumped, and Edward came back—but not before things with Jacob got deeper. **

"_I'm exactly right for you, Bella. It would have been effortless for us—comfortable, easy as breathing. I was the natural path your life would have taken…. If the world was the way it was supposed to be, if there were no monsters or no magic…" –Jacob Black, Eclipse_

**The Natural Path, or, Romeo and Juliet… and Paris. **

**Chapter One: The Alternative**

I closed my eyes, breathing in the salt air as the wind tousled my hair around my face. I felt so free up here. I didn't know what I was thinking that day when I saw Sam and the others jumping—something this energizing would be more fun than dangerous. And the added plus of my hallucination being present just made it more invigorating. I didn't want to wait for Jake. I'd jump a million times with him later, but I didn't want to wait now. I shuffled my feet forward, closer to the edge.

"Bella, you can't do this!" a velvet voice growled in my ears. "This is reckless and stupid! You _promised_," he pleaded.

_You promised, too,_ I thought. _If you can break promises, so can I._

"_No_, Bella." I could picture without effort the fury and frustration that would be glinting out of his golden eyes as he said the words.

_Yes, _Edward, I thought his name forcefully. I took a deep breath and shifted forward a bit more, opening my eyes and staring down over the edge of the rocky cliff face. The growling in my mind mixed with the violent churning of the waves below, until the noises blended into a calming song. I took a deep breath and tensed my body, preparing myself for the dive…when a howl split through the song of the growling and churning. I sighed and relaxed my body unwillingly.

I glanced back towards the forest in the direction of the howl. It had been pretty close… Jake would probably be back soon and he would need to fill me in on what had happened this morning before I got there. _Victoria_… I shuddered. Better to just go back and wait for now.

"It was nice talking to you, Edward…," I murmured to the cliff and waves beneath me, before turning and sulking back to my truck.

**--Alice's POV--**

I sat on the couch, flipping through one of Irina's foreign fashion magazines. A gaunt figure with ludicrous raccoon eyes and an enormous feathery plume balanced on top of her head started back at me from the glossy page. Ugh. These people have no sense of beauty.

"Ha!" Emmett exclaimed from across the room, slamming Jasper's hand down onto the table, causing it to quake underneath his force. "Two-fifty-seven to two-fifty-six!"

Jasper grimaced. "Best out of five hundred and twenty?"

Emmett smiled as wide as a Cheshire cat and lifted his arm back up to start again. "You're on."

"Idiots," I muttered, closing my eyes. I distantly heard myself heave a sharp intake of breath as a picture danced across my eyelids. A mousy brown-haired girl on a cliff next to the ocean, teetering on the edge and she was going to jump in and never come up and I started trembling, shaking the magazine to the floor. Emmett and Jasper's chairs scraped across the floor as they flew to my side. I opened my eyes widely.

"_Bella_," I gasped. The boys' eyes grew, and I subconsciously registered a mildly curious look passing over Rosalie and Tanya's faces.

My panic faded and was replaced with confusion as my vision disappeared. I frowned, creasing my eyebrows together in thought.

"What was it?" Jasper asked quietly.

"She was on a cliff, at the ocean, standing on the edge. She was going to… but then she turned and left. She was going to do it, she was going to jump, I saw her do it and go under the water and she wasn't coming up, but then… she didn't do it, she changed her mind… she said something about Edward…," I trailed off, shaken by the image of Bella falling to her death.

There was a long pause. "Should we call him?" Emmett's usually cheerful voice sounded extraordinarily somber as it broke the silence.

"No!" Rosalie shrieked from across the room, her angelic face full of fury. "She's already destroyed everything for us one time, why would we give her the chance to do so again?"

I glared at her, pushing my lips back over my teeth in a fierce snarl. "Because, in case you hadn't noticed, our family has been one short for far too long now." Rosalie glared back with a disgusted expression. "You know he's miserable without her, Rose. It's tearing him apart, which is tearing _us_ apart. Personally, I like Edward, but if you don't want him around anymore, we may as well let him stay halfway around the world burying himself in depression and loneliness for the rest of eternity!" Rosalie's face had turned sour, and I knew I had won. "He convinced himself to make himself suffer as long as she was happy. Obviously she's not if she's been throwing herself off cliffs. They're both miserable and this is stupid! Edward _needs_ to come back."

Rosalie's eyes narrowed in concentration, and she bit the side of her lip while coming up with a retort.

"At least wait until Carlisle and Esme get back. See what Carlisle has to say. You know he can convince Edward better than any of us." Rosalie said, keeping her voice emotionless.

"You just want to put this off as long as you can!" I shouted.

"So?" She smiled sweetly.

"So, you're a stupid, self-centered, over-jealous, heartless—"I stopped as Japser put a hand on my shoulder.

"She has a point." I opened my mouth to protest more and he shot me a warning glance. "No, really. This is a difficult situation. We can't just tell Edward that Bella's been thinking of jumping off cliffs and expect him to immediately realize he's been an idiot and run back to Forks to start up their relationship again as if nothing ever happened. You know it'll just make him feel worse that he's made her just as miserable as he is. We'll wait for Carlisle's opinion."

I pouted my lip and crossed my arms. "Fine. But you know Carlisle will agree, so there's no point waiting." I glared at the floor. The next few days would be infuriating.

**--Bella's POV--**

It had started raining, and I had just parked in front of Billy's house when Jacob came stepping out of the woods, raindrops rolling down his bare chest and his faded black jeans caked with mud from the chase. I stepped out of the cab and smiled at him.

"Hey! How are... you… Jake…?" my tone started off energetic but quickly faded warily at the serious expression engraved on his face. "What… what happened? Is anyone hurt? Did Victoria—"

"Not Victoria. We almost had her, but she took off into the water," Jake said. I shivered, thinking of how I had almost jumped into the very water where she had been lurking. "It's… it's Harry Clearwater. Em was waiting with the news when we got back. He had a heart attack earlier."

My eyes widened. "Harry? Oh, no, Jake! That's awful! Does Charlie know?

"Yeah, he's over at the hospital right now with my dad."

"Will he be alright?" I asked desperately. I'd never been very close to Harry, but he was still a good friend of the family, and had been for as long as I could remember.

Jacob's face saddened. "It doesn't look so great right now," his voice tightening slightly at the end.

We were in Jacob's house now, taking shelter in the small, cozy front room while the rain outside picked up and pounded on the roof and windows. He fell onto the couch, making it groan slightly as he leaned into it and closed his eyes. I sat down next to him, his warmth feeling more comfortable than usual after standing out on the freezing cliff. "Do you want to go see Harry?" I asked quietly. "I can bring you if you want to go."

"That's okay, Bells. I'd just be in the way." He half-smiled and gently rested his head against mine. I leaned in closer to his warmth, listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing as we drifted off to sleep.


	2. Juliet Gets Dumped & Ends Up With Paris

**AN: Wow, guys! I don't think I've ever gotten such a great response so quickly. I'm glad you guys liked the first chapter. Thanks to everyone who commented. For now, I'm trying to keep the story somewhat in tune with Stephenie Meyer's version, since nothing has drastically changed yet. I'm trying to keep it from just being an exact repeat of what she said, though, so bear with me. :D **

_And I knew it from the start  
So my arms are open wide  
Your head is on my stomach  
And we're trying so hard not to fall asleep…  
Our hearts were on display  
For all to see  
I can't believe this is happening to me  
And I raised my hand as if to show you that I was yours  
That I was so yours for the taking  
I'm so yours for the taking_

_--The Blue October_

**Chapter Two**

**Juliet Gets Dumped and Ends Up With Paris**

I shut myself in the study and sat down in the antique leather chair behind Tanya's grand wooden desk. I closed my eyes and exhaled. Concentrate, I reminded myself. My mind reached out, groping for what I was seeking. I frowned slightly. Bella, I repeated her name over in my head, picturing her image clearly in my mind. But nothing came.

I made a soft noise of frustration. It shouldn't be this hard. Maybe I had just been away from her for too long, though that had never really kept me from seeing someone before. I reasoned that Bella had been an exception as far as these types of things went before, so maybe it was nothing. I tried again. I need to see Bella. Bella, Bella, Bella. I imagined her perfectly—her voice, her looks, her smell, her manner of carrying herself. Still, nothing came. I opened my eyes and glared at the shiny surface of the desk in frustration. It felt like shaking a Magic 8 Ball and getting "Sorry, try again" every time. What the _hell_ was going on?

**--Bella's POV--**

"Jacob," I murmured blearily through my sleep. The sound of my own voice brought me out of my slumber, and I snuggled myself into whatever I was laying on. I was very warm, I noticed, my mind still unfocused. The haze of sleep slowly drifted away and I opened my eyes into a narrow squint. I was lying on a rough, worn black fabric. I breathed in a musky scent mixed with the smell of the forest. My eyes wandered across the room to the dark television, reflecting back the image of Jake and I on the couch.

My eyes widened and I slowly lifted my head up. I was curled up on my side, and my head had been resting on Jacob's lap. Jacob was slumped over in an awkward half-sitting-up, half-lying-down position, one of his long arms slung across my waist, his forearm supporting his head. His hot breath pulsed slowly against the side of my sweater. My face burned red, which, paired with the waves of heat pouring from Jacob's body, made me feel as if I were baking in an oven. It was uncomfortable and I wanted to move to cool down and stretch out, but I didn't want to wake Jacob. Not when he had been working so hard lately. Working so hard because of _me_. I sighed.

Jacob was such a good friend. He was more than I could ever have asked for. He was putting back together my broken pieces as well as they could ever be put back together, and now he was risking his life every day to try to save mine. I shuddered, thinking of Victoria. Her bright orange hair and red eyes gleamed in my mind. Suddenly I felt nauseous, and the heat surrounding me turned feverish. I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. _Calm down_, I told myself. _I don't want to get sick in the middle of Jake's living room. Think of something else._

Once again, I found myself thinking of the enormous teenage boy whose lap I was currently using as a pillow. I sighed. _Something _besides_ that, Bella,_ I scolded myself mentally. My eyes fixed themselves again on the dark glass in front of me. When was the last time I'd actually watched anything on television? The rational part of me knew it must have been a glimpse of one of Charlie's games, but my mind drifted to another time, months ago. The nineteen-sixties version of _Romeo and Juliet_. The hole in my chest clawed at my insides as I remembered a velvet voice muttering Romeo's lines into my ear.

I wondered what Juliet would have done if Romeo had changed his mind. What if he continued to pursue Rosalind, or decided that Juliet wasn't worth it and just left? Juliet's whole future would be thrown away. She couldn't have returned to the way things were before Romeo stepped into her life, I knew that. If she lived for a hundred years, Romeo's face would still haunt her every moment. Maybe she would have settled for Paris, in the end. But it would depend on Paris. Shakespeare never put much into him, he was just there to move the story along. What if Paris had been a good friend? A _best_ friend, someone willing to risk everything for Juliet? What if he had been the one person that could make her feel alive again at all, even just the tiniest bit? What if Paris had been kind and doting, and became someone Juliet had depended upon? Someone she may have even loved? Not to the degree that she had loved Romeo, because nobody could ever replace him, but if she had loved him enough to want to make him happy…. It would be the closest thing to happiness she could get, wouldn't it? If Romeo was never coming back to fair Verona, what did it matter if Juliet tried to make life more bearable for herself?

_Stop it_, I told my mind. It was a doing a discredit to Shakespeare to think of _him_ as Romeo. Romeo would never have left Juliet. That's why everyone remembered their story, why their names would be forever intertwined together. They loved each other literally to death, and that's why people would always remember their tragedy. "Juliet gets dumped and ends up with Paris" would never have been a hit.

Jake sighed in his sleep and leaned his face against my waist. Well, it wouldn't have been a hit, but it _would_ be better for Juliet than "Juliet gets dumped and is unhappy for the rest of her life", wouldn't it? Could I do it, though? I had been resisting it for so long, would I be able to do it without regretting it later? I couldn't let myself hurt Jacob by changing my mind later. If I made that decision… if I crossed that line, there would be no going back.

The low rumble of an engine and the crunching of tires over the gravel broke through my thoughts. The engine cut off and I heard the car doors open and close. A minute later, the cool air blew across Jacob and I as Sam held the door open for Billy, who rolled into the room and flicked on the lights.

Jake groaned and lifted his head. He opened his eyes, and, noticing his current position, sprang up immediately, a flush spreading across his face. I could feel my face heat up similarly as I settled into a more decent position. I glanced at Sam and Billy, my expression filled with embarrassment—and then quickly turning to horror. Billy's eyes were watery, and Sam's face was grave and dark.

"Oh, no!" I wailed. Billy closed his eyes and nodded. Jake sprang up to go to his father's side, placing an enormous comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," I said quietly, my voice cracking.

Billy gave a small nod of acknowledgement. "It's gonna be hard all around."

"Where's Charlie?"

"He's still at the hospital with Sue. There's a lot of… arrangements to be made."

I nodded sadly.

"I should get back," Sam muttered, stepping back out the door.

Billy moved, freeing himself from Jacob's hand, and rolled himself through the kitchen and into his room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Jake stared after him with a pained expression for a moment before going to sit back on the couch next to me. He sunk his face into his hands. I tentatively reached out and put my arm around him, at a loss for words. This, on top of Victoria… I shuddered again. Jake noticed and shot a concerned glance at me.

"You don't look so good, Bells," he said quietly. "You probably should have dried off better after we came in…."

"I'm fine," I insisted, knowing the real source of my unease and shivering more at the thought.

"You look pale." His dark eyes scrutinized me.

I stared at him incredulously. "And when don't I?"

He frowned. "You know what I mean. I'll take you home. You should probably be there when Charlie gets back, anyway."

I sighed. "Right." I gathered up my strength and stood up, making my way over to the door, Jacob following right behind me. "You can stay, Jake, I can make it home on my own. You'd have no way of getting back, anyhow."

"I'm not coming back for a while. We still haven't caught that bloodsucker, you know." I grimaced as he reached around me to open the door. I made my way to the driver's side of my truck, but he got there first. My frown deepened.

"You really don't have to do this," I said.

"I know," Jake replied, grinning. "Now get in before you get soaked." I sighed, walked over to the passenger's side, and hauled myself into the cab. Jacob already had the keys in the ignition and was turning on the engine before I had shut my door.

It was cold, and the frigid air chased away whatever sleep was left in me. I shivered and wrapped my arms tight around myself, wishing I had a jacket. Jacob noticed and slung an arm around me, pulling me close to his warm body. I bit my lower lip.

I felt extraordinarily alert, and my mind was working at a hundred miles a minute. What was the right thing for me to do? Jacob had become an essential part of my life—I couldn't imagine living without him. I needed him as much as I needed air and water, food and shelter. Could things carry on the way they had been, forever? I knew that they couldn't. Eventually, things would go one way or the other. He would give up on me, or I would give in to him.

I remembered the days when I had wished Jacob were my brother. I realized quite suddenly that I hadn't felt that way for a while now. There was nothing brotherly about the way he was holding me. It was warm and comforting, and it smoothed over the sharp edges of all the broken things inside of me. It was something I could give in to. I could let myself be happy.

It would mean telling Jacob everything. He knew I was hurt, heartbroken, but he didn't know about the voices. He didn't know why I was so desperate to be reckless, to ride motorcycles and jump off cliffs. He would need to know how messed up I truly was. I would have to admit I was insane. I would let him know how much better he deserved, but that I would be there if he wanted me.

A pang shot through me as I realized he wouldn't even acknowledge that he deserved better. He wouldn't care. He would smile his sunshine smile and accept me no matter what. And that just meant, even more, that I would have to commit every last little broken piece of me to him, for as long as he wanted me. It was the only way for this to be remotely fair to him. Could I do it? It would make him happy, and it would make me happi_er_, even if I couldn't love him the way I wished I could.

I came back to my senses as we pulled up in front of Charlie's house and Jake turned off the truck. Neither of us moved to open the door. Suddenly, Jake was throwing his other arm around me and pulling me into a warm, bone-crushing hug, and I almost felt like a whole person again.

"Jake," I began.

He loosened his hold on me a bit. "Sorry, Bells. I know you don't feel exactly the way I do, but…." He trailed off, and my heartbeat kicked faster.

Wouldn't Edward want me to be as happy as I could without him? Even if he didn't love me, if he didn't want me, wouldn't the time we had spent together leave its mark on him a bit, in at least a platonic way? Enough for him to want me to not be an empty, miserable shell of a person? He couldn't mind me giving a small bit of the love he didn't want to someone who did. It wasn't the same love, he would know that. But it was enough.

Jake pressed his face against the top of my head. If I moved closer… if I let my lips touch his shoulder, I knew what would follow. It would be so simply done.

I breathed in Jake's scent. A thousand butterflies beat against my insides as I fought the urge to bring my lips to his skin.

Then, quite suddenly, Edward's smooth velvet voice rang quietly through my ears.

"Be happy."

My body froze and my heart leaped into my throat. Jacob felt me stiffen and let me go immediately, turning his head in embarrassment to open the door.

_Wait, _I wanted to tell him, but my voice had caught itself in my throat. I was stuck in time in that one second, listening to Edward's voice echoing in my head. I choked up as I realized it might be the last time I ever heard it, even just as a hallucination, but Jacob opened his door and the cold air froze any tears threatening to spill in their tracks. I blinked hard and turned for my own door. As soon as I had stepped out, Jake took my hand to walk me to the door.

With each step I took along the small path, an argument echoed in my head. _Do it_, left foot, _not yet, _right foot, until I tripped on the small stone step to the porch and forgot the pattern. Jake caught me, though, and I considered that to be a good enough resolution. He steadied me, and we were at the door. He looked down at me with his deep black-brown eyes and smiled gently before pulling me into another hug.

I closed my eyes tightly and slowly moved my face closer to his shoulder.

_Goodbye, Edward._

I brought my lips to his smooth russet skin, and heard him gasp. He pulled back to look at my face, searching. I shyly half-smiled and his face broke into an ecstatic grin.

"Bella," he said, raising a shaking hand to my face.

"Yeah?" My voice was nearly a whisper, but I felt some bravery build up underneath my nervousness and I stared intently into his eyes.

His hands felt soft on my face as he leaned down and I leaned up, nearly on the tips of my toes. Our lips met, and his were warm, gentle, and slightly hesitant. He pulled back a fraction of a centimeter, but I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer. It was unlike anything I'd felt before. It was warm and soft and it felt like _home_. Too soon, our lips broke apart. I could feel the flush on my skin, and Jacob was smiling stupidly with a dreamy look on his face. It was adorable, I thought as I suppressed a giggle.

We stood there for what could have been hours, grinning at each other like idiots, before Jacob sighed. "I should probably get going. Charlie will be back soon."

"Yeah," I agreed, but I didn't move to break us apart. I looked up at him and he leaned back in for another kiss. There was more force behind this one than the first, and I felt the butterflies in my stomach dancing in excitement. I pulled back after a few moments and smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely." He brushed his lips against my cheek. "Have a good night, Bella."

"I will. Promise me you'll be careful?" I asked, worried that he'd be running around in the woods where Victoria was lurking.

He let out a barking laugh. "Sure, sure. Bye, Bells." He squeezed my hand tightly before running off to the woods. I stared after him for a bit, still smiling, before the cold got to me and I let myself in.

That night I slept soundlessly, dreaming of a large russet-brown wolf running gracefully through the trees.


	3. The Time Has Come, The Walrus Said

**AN: First off, the rating has been turned to T because of swearing. Nothing really in this chapter, but definitely a chapter or two down the road…once a certain bloodsucker shows up. Hehe, I'm giving things away. **

**Alright, secondly: FINALLY. I don't know why this chapter was so hard to crank out. I have been working a lot, but it's really probably because I've been thinking of the future scenes I'm just itching to get to writing—but alas, this has to come first. My lack of enthusiasm for this sort of makes me feel like it's written very blandly…. But, here we go. My story can **_**finally**_** begin. I'm not particularly sure where it will lead in the end, so I will definitely need support in order to continue! Review away, my friends! **

Even when it's out of sight,  
The sun shines night and day!

We need its light,  
We need its heat,  
The sunlight that we see  
The sunlight comes from our own sun's atomic energy!

**--They Might Be Giants**

**Chapter 3**

**The Time Has Come, The Walrus Said**

-JASPER-

Hours had passed, and Alice still hadn't come out of the study. I looked up from the video game Emmett was currently beating me at and stared at the door, feeling her unease give in to relief mixed with confusion.

Emmett whooped in victory as he defeated me and Alice finally emerged, with a disgruntled expression on her beautiful face.

"What's up?" I asked quietly. Alice looked into my eyes and, even without my abilities, it was clear to see that she had been genuinely upset.

"Well, I can see her again now—" she started, before Emmett cut her off.

"You've been in there _all day_ just trying to _see her_?!" He asked in shock. "_At all_?!"

Alice frowned. "Yes, at all."

"But how—how is that possible?" He spluttered. "You don't think your powers—"

"It's nothing to do with me," she said thoughtfully. "I checked in on the others—in Forks, I mean. You know, Jess and Mike and Angela and Ben. I even tried Lauren." She made a face. "And Charlie, too. I could see all of them fine, so there should be no reason that I can't see Bella. But I couldn't until just now. Something with _her_ is what's messing with me." Alice sounded quite unhappy, and I put my arm around her. Alice continued. "She was coming home from somewhere. Now she's making dinner for Charlie. When he gets home he won't feel like talking much—one of his friends died, I saw him going to a funeral parlor for arrangements. So Bella's going to be comforting him rather than telling him about her day. Which means I won't find out what was messing with me, or, more importantly, where Bella's been and what she's been doing." Her frown had become nearly pouty with frustration.

"It's okay," I said soothingly. "As long as she's safe now."

Alice sighed. "I know. But I hate that I couldn't see," she mumbled grumpily.

I smiled. "It must have been a fluke. I'm sure it won't happen again."

-BELLA-

I woke up and stretched, feeling quite well-rested after a night free of nightmares. I smiled to myself and lazily sat up. Swinging my legs over the edge of my bed and shuffling my feet into a pair of house slippers, I thumped my way downstairs. Charlie had already gone to work, but as I went to the kitchen for breakfast, intent on making myself a big fluffy omelet, I noticed he had left a note stuck to the fridge.

_Bella,_

_The funeral is tomorrow. I'm bringing my suit to the cleaner's. I'll be home late, so I need you to pick it up for me this afternoon. Thanks._

_Dad_

I took in a shaky breath and tears welled up in my eyes. Poor Harry. It must be awful for his family. I couldn't imagine losing Charlie. I felt the tears threaten to choke up my throat with sobs, and I struggled to force them back down. I turned, having lost most of my appetite, and settled for picking at some toast with jam rather than the monstrous omelet I had envisioned.

After I had brushed the toast crumbs into the garbage and placed the plate in the kitchen sink, I took a hot shower and brushed my teeth. I took extra time drying my hair, trying to distract myself. I was pulling a navy sweater on over a plain white t-shirt when the phone rang. I darted downstairs to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Bells," responded a familiar husky voice.

"Jake!" I exclaimed, automatically cheering up a bit. "I was just finishing getting dressed, I'll be over in a bit."

"Actually, Bells, would you mind if we went out? The mood around here is killing me. Plus, I need something nice to wear tomorrow," his voice sounded strained. "I've kind of grown out of everything."

"Oh," I said quietly. "Okay, Jake. I should probably get something nicer, too," I thought aloud, thinking of my limited wardrobe.

"Alright, I'll be over in a bit."

"'Kay. See you then."

"Yeah. Bye, Bell."

I hung up the phone and spent the next ten minutes trying to get my hair into an elegant bun. I'd been neglecting it more than usual and it had gotten quite long—and therefore harder to manage. Eventually I gave up and settled for pulling it into a boring ponytail. I was tucking a few loose strands behind my ear in the hallway mirror when the doorbell rang. I went to the door and opened it with a smile. "Hey, Jacob."

-JASPER-

We were sitting on the porch, watching a cardinal flutter around a pine tree. Alice was snuggled against my side, quite content. Then she let out a wave of rage and frustration and released a high-pitched scream of a growl, frightening the cardinal and several other birds out of their trees and into the distance.

"_What_ is that girl _doing_?!" She seethed, leaping up.

"She disappeared again," I said. It wasn't a question.

"She wakes up and gets ready—her outfit wasn't bad, actually, I liked it. She eats, reads a note from Charlie, someone calls. And then she's playing with her hair…," she trailed off thoughtfully. Bella wasn't one to put much into appearances…. "And she walks down the hall and then _nothing_."

I was quiet for a moment. "Who called?"

She frowned and looked at me with an exasperated look. "Jasper, I _see_—I don't _hear_."

-BELLA-

Jacob half-smiled. I knew he was grieving for Harry. I chewed a little bit of my bottom lip, hoping he was going to be okay having a day out so soon. I knew he would put on a brave face, but still. I gave him a tight hug—though I was sure it wouldn't feel very tight to him.

"Just a sec, okay?" I stepped back to let him wait in Charlie's small foyer, the storm door clanging shut behind him, as I hopped up the stairs to my room. I grabbed my small, simple purse I kept for going out and threw my wallet and keys inside. I bounded back down the stairs to Jacob, giving him another quick hug. "All set!"

-JASPER-

I blinked. I knew that, but still, she had gotten so good at figuring this sort of thing out, I assumed she could in this case, too. "You couldn't see what she was saying?"

"Not clearly. Bella isn't very articulate; it's hard to read her lips. It's easier to interpret when I can actually see people interacting with the person they're talking to. She was really happy at first, though."

"Oh. Well, that's good," I said carefully, studying her face.

She flinched, and I knew what she meant. Good for Bella. Maybe not so good for Edward.

-BELLA-

Jacob had turned off the radio almost the moment the engine had turned on, but not before I heard the screaming lyrics and loud guitar chords burst forth from it—straight from the album Phil had given me so long ago—and the hole threatened to devour me once again. Jake made a face before smiling apologetically and taking my hand until I felt the hole shrink back down again.

The drive to Port Angeles was very quiet, save for a bit of small talk and the hum of the Rabbit, but I was with Jacob, and that was more than enough.

"How's Emily?" I had asked.

"Good, she and Sam set a tentative date for the end of summer," he replied. His face burst into a wry grin. "How's _Mike Newton_ been doing?"

I moaned in disgust as he laughed at my expense.

We pulled up in front of the only department store in Port Angeles, and I smiled at Jacob. "Time to play dress up the werewolf!" I said in a singsong voice.

Jacob blinked once before bursting out laughing, and I figured the day might not be as sad as I had imagined.

-ALICE-

I was watching Jasper and Emmett play basketball when I knew he was going to call. I stared at the phone for a moment, contemplating what to say, before it rang and I picked it up.

"Edward!" I sang cheerfully. "I miss you!"

"Alice," he greeted me with a dead tone. "How are you all?"

"We're all right," I said. "Though we all miss our favorite brother," I added with a pout in my voice. "It would be a million times better if you were here."

"I doubt I'd be raising anyone's spirits."

Emmett and Jasper had put their game on time-out, and Emmett called across the court, "Edward, you'd better get your ass up here! Beating Jasper all the time is boring!"

"I'm sure he's not that bad." A taste of annoyance tainted Edward's velvet voice.

I frowned into the phone. This wasn't good. "Esme really misses you," I said gently. "She and Carlisle are hunting right now, but they'll be back tomorrow night. I'll have them call you then, okay?" That would ensure that he would pick up.

"Okay."

The conversation lasted a few more dull minutes before he said he had to go. I hung up and sighed deeply.

Emmett frowned. "Last time I checked, Edward was a vampire, not a zombie," he mumbled to himself. "Well, wherever our plan leads us, it'll be better than _this_, at any rate."

-BELLA-

We hit the men's department first. Jacob picked out a simple dress shirt—black, for the funeral—and I found him a couple of inexpensive t-shirts and pairs of jeans. He would need them, what with his habit of bursting them open all the time.

He was trying the jeans on when something on a nearby rack caught my eye. I picked it up and held it over the door of Jake's changing stall—over which the top of his head was visible. I saw a quirked eyebrow and a suspicious look in his eye.

"Try this on," I insisted. "And let me see."

"I'm not a Ken doll, you know," he mumbled, but took the shirt anyway.

"I know. Ken dolls couldn't turn into giant furballs. You'd be more like the mammal version of a Transformer doll…."

I heard him burst into laughter, and then a shuffle of clothing before the door creaked open behind me. I turned and took a sharp intake of breath.Jacob chuckled as I turned bright red.

He was wearing a button-up shirt of deep navy, which played nicely with the color of his skin. He hadn't bothered with the top few buttons, revealing just enough of his chest to make me want to swoon over him—which was ridiculous, because swooning was for preteen girls with crushes on unobtainable teen idols, and this was just Jacob Black and I was just Isabella Swan, but he was _gorgeous_ and damn it, I was swooning.

Jake looked embarrassed, but there was an air of smugness about him and I knew he was pleased with my reaction.

"So, you like it?" He asked shyly.

"Yeah," I managed. I imagined that my face must look ridiculous at the moment, so I fought to compose it.

Jake smiled. "Well, then, I guess I'll finish trying these on…."

I nodded, though I'd much rather stand there gawking at him all day. But that wouldn't be a very practical use of our time, I had to remind myself.

Jake changed back into his regular clothes and put the items that hadn't fit back onto the rack, and we wandered across the aisle into the women's clothing. Jake looked uncomfortable.

"I'll make this as painless as possible, I promise," I laughed.

"I dunno," he eyed me suspiciously. "Shopping with Rachel and Rebecca has taught me to fear females in clothing stores."

I laughed. "Sounds like shopping with Renee. Lucky for you, I'm not quite like that."

I picked out a black peasant blouse and a flowing black skirt, decorated with a bit of lace and some ribbon that fell just below my knees. I browsed through the jeans and shirts, but, admitting defeat, turned to the shoe department. I got simple black ballet flats to go with the rest of my outfit, and managed to convince Jake into buying some flip-flops.

"They won't get destroyed when you phase," I reasoned. "They're more practical than sneakers and you don't have to get weird looks by going barefoot all the time."

"Fine," he agreed. "But I'm not getting the kind with the thing between your toes."

"Thongs?" There was a short and awkward pause, accompanied by my face glowing bright red.

Jacob flushed. "Yeah… not those," he broke the silence.

I laughed nervously. "Deal."

After bringing our things to the register, we still had a bit of time left before we had to start heading home, so we decided to get a bite to eat before leaving Port Angeles. We ultimately decided on a Chinese buffet place—Forks didn't have much in the way of Chinese food, so it was a nice change of pace. And, since it was a buffet, Jacob could fill his werewolf-sized appetite.

It was quiet in the restaurant, with only a few other patrons besides the two of us. I chewed my lo mein slowly while Jacob tore his way through several plates of ribs and eggrolls.

Jake seemed mildly impressed by the fact that I could use chopsticks. "I'd think you would be too clumsy to use them," he admitted.

I laughed. "Well, I probably would be, but Renee always insisted we couldn't use Western utensils for Asian foods. She said it 'ruins the experience'. It took a while to get used to it, but I never messed up too bad. Though I did accidentally poke myself in the eye with them once, and I ended up dropping them and getting soy sauce all over my clothes…."

Jake smirked. "Yeah, that sounds about right for you."

"Hey! I resent that."

He let out a barking laugh. "Sorry, Bells."

"I'd like to see you try to use these, Mr. I'm Good At Everything," I brandished my chopsticks at him. "I bet I could give you a run for your money."

"I'm good with a fork," he smiled.

"A fork? It's more like a shovel, the way you eat."

Jake swallowed the food he was chewing and stuck his tongue out at me before turning back to finish off his plate. I grinned to myself. For the first time in over half a year… I was happy.

-ROSALIE –

Irina and I were coming back from the local mall, our nails gleaming with a fresh manicure—you need to take good care of your fingernails when they won't be growing any more—and I was walking (well, strutting, really, but who wouldn't with my figure?) past one of the guest rooms when I saw Alice meditating on top of the bed. Jasper was sitting in an armchair beside her, flipping through a fix-it-yourself home manual. I quirked a perfect eyebrow. She must have been doing this for a while.

"What's eating Alice?" I asked sweetly. I was just wondering, really.

Her amber eyes snapped open and she hissed, springing across the room to snap the door closed in my face.

I sneered. "Touchy."

-BELLA-

When we had eaten enough to fill us to the point of exploding—not an easy feat, in Jacob's case—we made our way back to the Rabbit and headed home, leaving Port Angeles in a much cheerier mood than we had come. The thought made me smile, and I squeezed Jakes huge hand with my small one as we drove the winding roads back to Forks.

When we pulled up in front of Charlie's house, I looked at him with hopeful eyes. "Um… do you want to come in for a bit? I've got to go pick up something of Charlie's from the cleaner's in an hour, but I've got nothing to do til then."

Jacob smiled my smile. "Sure."

We stepped out of the car and up to the front door—I shivered slightly at the cold breeze that was blowing around the house as I took the key from under the eave and entered the house. Jake shut it behind us securely and we made our way to the living room. I plopped down onto the couch, and Jake settled next to me, reaching for the remote and flicking on the television. An old horror movie was on.

I grinned a bit. "Why is it that I always end up watching cheesy horror films with you?"

Jake mirrored my grin and shrugged. "At least there's no puking Mike Newton this time."

I laughed. "True." He pulled his arm around me and I scooted closer to his warm body. We sat there cozily for a while, watching the black and white serial killer mystery unravel itself.

Eventually, Jake broke the silence. "Bella…," he said slowly. I looked up at him.

"Yeah?"

"I… um…," he struggled to find words. "What… uh… are we, exactly? You know how I feel about you… and after yesterday...," he blushed. "Well, I'm just wondering where we stand."

I took a deep breath and stared intently at the floor. "Jacob… I know I've said I wanted to be just friends," I turned my gaze up to his and a spasm of pain flickered across his face before he could control it, "But… I think I want to be… more." Jake's face relaxed a bit and he pulled me tighter. "But you have to know some things first."

I felt him tense next to me. "What kinds of things?" he asked in a strained, quiet voice.

"It's not too bad, I promise. You know a bit already." I sighed. "Jake, you know how… broken, I am. When he… well, I…," I trailed off, thinking of the words to say. "He was everything. He was my present, he was all I cared about from my past, and he was going to be my future. My… _eternal_ future." I felt Jake flinch, and he knew exactly what I meant.

"You were going to—to—" His voice was filled with disbelief and pain, and he was shaking slightly.

I closed my eyes and sighed again. "I wanted to. He didn't agree, but eventually, we all thought he would give in." There was a long pause. "He said he didn't want me anymore," I choked out. "He made a promise it would be like he had never existed. But he broke it, Jake…he broke it before he even made it. So… I decided to break the promise I'd made to him."

"What was that?" He spoke in a voice just above a whisper.

I smiled twistedly. "That I wouldn't be reckless and stupid. That I'd take care of myself. It started… back in January. Charlie had been yelling at me for acting like a zombie, so I decided to go out with Jessica to a movie. And… this one time, over a year ago now, the first time I went to Port Angeles with her and Angela, I ended up getting lost. And these men were following me," he squeezed me even tighter to him. "And I was trapped, but… he saved me. That night, in January… we were walking down the street, and across the road there were these guys hanging outside a bar. And I thought they were the same guys from that night, so… I started walking over to them."

Jacob's eyebrows furrowed together. "You _what?_ Bella, what the hell were you—" He cut off, falling silent at the pleading look on my face.

"So I was walking across the street… and I heard… _him_. His voice, in my head. Telling me to stop. Yelling at me about how I had promised….After that, I decided I wouldn't keep my promise. I was trying to think of how to be reckless… and then I saw the motorcycles." I took a deep breath. "And after you fixed them, I heard him when we rode them. And the other day, when you and the pack caught Victoria's scent again… I went to the cliff, I was going to try diving without you, and I heard him then, too."

"You were doing… all that… to hear his voice," he said slowly, and I could hear him trying to control his anger from showing through his words.

"Yeah…," I admitted. "I just… I needed to tell you, before you made your decision." I looked down at the carpet again. "That night, I heard him again. After you drove me home, and we were sitting in the car… he told me to be happy," I whispered. "And… I think I can learn to be. With you. You know I'm broken—and delusional, so quite possibly clinically insane, really—but… if you want me, what's left of me, then—"

Jacob's warm hand had grabbed my chin and turned my face towards his, before his lips stole mine. There was a lot of force behind the kiss, but it wasn't out of roughness, it was out of passion. Eventually, he drew back. His eyes were of conflicting emotions—they were sparkling with happiness, but some sadness lurked behind that. I smiled weakly. I knew it would upset him to hear that, but I'd given in to his hopes—it was the best thing he could ask for.

Jake ran his fingers through my hair and leaned his forehead against mine. "So," he said. "The next time Embry asks if I'm _finally_ dating you officially, what should I tell him?"

I grinned. "I think a 'yes' would work perfectly," I said, and Jacob leaned back in for another kiss.


	4. This Is Living

**AN: Finally, Edward makes an appearance! I'm so sorry this took so long. I've actually had it written for a while, but I never had time to get around to actually typing it up! This is what college does to me. And I'm only taking 4 real classes this semester, too! Geez. **

**Thanks for so many favs, alerts, and reviews, guys! Oh, and feel free to add me on LJ, I need more Twilight fan friends! My username there is aldriena, too. I'm headed to Boston tomorrow (11/16) afternoon so I might not get to respond to comments until the evening of the 18****th.**

**Credit for the chapter title goes to the Steven Strait (TOTALLY the perfect Jacob) song from the Undiscovered soundtrack. **

**Chapter IV: This Is Living  
**

And if you don't expect too much from me,  
You might not be let down  
Cause all I really want's to be with you  
Feeling like I matter too…  
Tomorrow we can drive around this town  
And let the cop chase us around  
The past is gone, but something might be found to take it's place

--The Gin Blossoms

BELLA

The funeral was quiet and peaceful. Even the heart-wrenching sobs of Sue and Leah seemed nearly silent. It grew uncomfortable very fast. I stood by Charlie's side, and seated on his other was Billy, who was currently gripping one of Jacob's oversized hands as if he were clinging on for his life. Charlie had draped his arm around me, squeezing me gradually closer to him as the ceremony wore on. I glanced over at Jacob and exchanged a sad smile.

That night, we lingered at Billy's place. I was in the kitchen cooking us lasagna, spreading a layer of sauce over the noodles when a warm hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me against an even warmer body. "Looks great, Bells," he murmured.

"Thanks," I grinned, and then gasped as he pressed a pair of warm lips against my neck. "Jake! Billy and Charlie!" I hissed, turning my head sharply to make sure they weren't looking into the kitchen. They were out of sight and Billy was murmuring something about how the game looked bad for whatever team.

Jake moved his lips up to my cheek. I smiled reluctantly. "You know we shouldn't be doing this with our dads right there."

"Billy won't care. You don't know how excited he was when I said that we were together," he said smugly.

"Billy might not care, but Charlie definitely will."

He looked down at me with a serious expression. "You haven't told him?"

"Well… not yet."

Jake frowned. "Why not?"

I sighed. "Charlie's different than Billy, Jake. I just want to make sure he's not going to flip."

"Are you kidding? He'll be thrilled!"

I chuckled. "Well, maybe. But if he decides we need a chaperone every time we're together, our study sessions could get boring pretty fast."

Jake smiled. "Good point," he said softly before leaning in for a warm kiss. I melted into his arms, savoring the moment. Reluctantly, I pulled back after a minute.

"I really need to get this done," I gestured to the half-assembled lasagna. Jacob's stomach rumbled and he looked down at it, embarrassed. I laughed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

ALICE

I leaped up from the armchair I'd spent the last two hours fidgeting in—Emmett had forced me into it after I'd annoyed him by jumping from foot to foot and pacing impatiently all over the sitting room. I dashed to the door and flung myself at Carlisle and Esme, who raised their eyebrows in surprise.

"You can't have missed us _that_ much," said Esme, amused.

"Oh, Esme! Carlisle!" I moaned. "You took for_ever_!"

"What's the problem?" Carlisle asked, a worried expression passing over his face.

I launched into telling them about my vision, babbling at a rate no human would ever be able to understand.

When I finished, Esme's face was stricken with shock and horror, and Carlisle looked grave. "She said something after changing her mind, though… and I could make out Edward's name. We need to bring him back," I said firmly. "He needs to stop this and put things back to where they belong before Bella really _does_ kill herself."

Jasper and the others had appeared in the hall behind us, as we moved into the foyer. "Is Bella okay now?" Carlisle asked. "What's she been doing?

I grimaced. "Yes, about that…."

BELLA

After the lasagna pan had been thoroughly cleansed of food (mostly by Jacob's fork) and the dishwasher was running, Jake turned to me.

"How about we go have some alone time?" He said, exaggeratedly raising his eyebrows up and down with a grin. I laughed.

"Okay," I agreed.

"Hey, dad!" Jacob called, walking into the front room as I trailed behind him. Charlie and Billy had resumed their spots in front of the T.V. "Bella and I are gonna go for a walk, then catch up with Quil or go hang out in the garage or something, okay?"

"Sure," Billy replied with a knowing smile in his eye. I blushed. It felt awkward, having Billy know, even though he was nearly as close to me as Charlie was.

Charlie smiled. "Have fun, kids."

"Sure, dad," I said, waving before stepping out the screen door Jacob held open for me.

BILLY

I smiled as I watched the door swing shut with a clang behind the two. When I was sure they were out of earshot, I turned back to the game.

"You know, they're together now," I said casually, my eyes fixed on the screen. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw Charlie whip his head around to me, then to the door, and back to me. From what I could see, his mouth was gaping wide open.

"Really," he finally said, sounding shell-shocked. There was a short pause. "Well, it's about time," he said gruffly.

I chuckled. "Yeah. About time."

ALICE

"Well, your powers not working properly is certainly concerning… but first we need to handle the situation with Edward," Carlisle said, frowning. "I agree that we need to get him back here, but he's not going to take this lightly. If anything, it will just make him feel worse."

"Well, maybe he needs to feel worse," I growled. "Maybe then he'll finally _do something_ instead of hauling himself off to South America to drown himself in depression. All he's done is make himself feel miserable! Maybe when he realizes that Bella's taking it just as hard as he is, he'll snap out of it and try to _fix_ it!"

There was a long pause before Carlisle finally responded. "All right. Let's call him, then. Esme," he looked to his wife. "I think you'd better be the one to talk to him."

"Yes, all right." She reached into her small handbag—just big enough to hold her phone and wallet, as she didn't really have a need to carry anything else—and pulled out a tiny silver phone. She flicked it open and dialed Edward's number. He picked up halfway through the first ring.

"Hello, Esme," a dead voice answered from the other end. Even on a quiet volume, we could all hear what he was saying clearer than any human could.

"Oh, Edward, how are you?" she said with thick emotion, then continued without waiting for an answer—we all knew how he was. "I miss you so much, dear. Won't you come visit us, just for a bit?"

"I don't know, Esme…."

"Please, Edward, we all miss you so much. It's not the same without you."

I could see the suspicious look in Edward's eye from thousands of miles away.

"You're awfully adamant about this. Is there anything you need to tell me?" He asked cautiously, some emotion coloring his voice for the first time I'd heard in months.

Esme's face fell and her words faltered. "I—well, no, not really, Edward, we just miss you and wish you would—"

"Let me talk to Carlisle," he demanded. Esme frowned and handed the small silver phone to her husband. Without waiting for a greeting, Edward's voice continued. "Carlisle, what's going on?"

"We just need to discuss some things with you. It's nothing urgent, don't worry. And we do really miss you," he added sincerely.

"You can discuss them with me right now."

"No, this would be better discussed in person. Come up to Denali."

"I can't. It's too—it's too close," he said painfully.

Carlisle's eyebrow raised. "Too close?"

"To… Forks," Edward admitted, his voice dripping with agony.

Carlisle sighed and spoke calmly. "It's fine, Edward. Running further away won't make you feel any better. Just come up and see us. It might do you some good."

There was a long pause. "Fine," Edward finally growled. "But this had better be good."

BELLA

We walked hand-in-hand down to the beach. It was chilly, so I leaned in close to Jacob. We finally got to the chunk of old driftwood we had sat upon that night, over a year ago now, that we had first met. A long, strong arm wrapped around me and held me tight to his side as we stared out at the waves crashing against the sea cliffs.

"Bella?" he said cautiously. I looked up at him and saw worry etched into his face.

"What's wrong, Jake?" My eyebrows twined together.

"I need to tell you something," he choked out.

"I'm listening."

"Well, I… have you ever heard of imprinting?"

EDWARD

I flipped the phone shut and stared at it. What the _hell_ had that been about? Why couldn't they just tell me on the phone? Had something happened? Was _she_ hurt? A sharp pain tore through my already aching chest.

I looked around at the dingy, dusty attic I was hiding in. Sundown had just passed. I reached into the minds of the apartment tenants below me. I wouldn't be seen leaving the attic now.

I took a deep, unnecessary breath. If it was about Bella, maybe…maybe it was something good. Maybe she had found them. She knew Tanya lived in Denali, maybe she had gone there hoping to find out where we were. Maybe she hadn't gotten over me and wanted me back. My heart leapt into my throat, and I knew that if it could, it would be racing. Or… maybe… what if something had happened? What if she were hurt, or dying, or already dead?

I growled in frustration, digging my fingers into my now-grimy hair. Why hadn't they just told me? I glared at a box of old clothing. Only one way to find out.

BELLA

My shoulders were stiff and I had to remind myself to breathe.

"You mean—you… you might just _look_ at someone else and fall in love with them?! How—why didn't you tell me this before?" I felt a new hole begin eating away at my chest. Jacob pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me.

"I didn't know how to say it. I was afraid it would scare you away. Bella, I won't let it happen to me."

I laughed joylessly. "How? Are you going to go around not looking at any girl ever again in your whole life?"

"No, Bella, it's not like that. It's just… I won't see anyone but you. Not really. You're all I can ever see. You're always in my mind, even when I try to think about something else."

He stared down at me with loving eyes as he leaned down to kiss me. When we pulled our lips apart, he kept his face next to mine and whispered, "I love you, Bella."

I tensed again and he chuckled softly. "You don't have to say anything, Bell. I know." I smiled to myself, because I had no doubt that he really _did_ know how I feel. And that didn't scare me like it should have. Maybe I was ready to move on. Not completely. I wouldn't ever move on completely—I would always remember my first love and I knew a part of me would always be his, but I could keep going with Jake. I reached down and grabbed his hand, intertwining my fingers with his. I could be happy with this.


	5. Walk This Way

**AN: Phew! In the last two weeks I've been really sick and had finals, but it's finally all over! Again, my apologies for this taking so long. I've got a month off from school now, so the next chapter should come up quicker. And I've already got it all planned out—it's just a matter of actually getting it all down in words! ; **

_Just living on a Sunday morning,  
Got my toast and tea and I'm warm and  
I just thought I'd think about.  
All the things to get and keep getting,  
Never enough, not enough, and never-ending.  
I just thought I'd think about..._

_--Letters to Cleo, "Here and Now"_

Chapter V: Walk This Way 

-BELLA-

I opened my eyes and blearily looked over to my alarm clock. Nine thirty-seven. Ugh. I needed to get up. I rolled onto my back and took a deep breath before sitting up. It was the last day of spring break. Tomorrow it would be back to school. I groaned, thinking of the Calculus test that would be waiting for me there.

I stepped onto the chilly hardwood floor and danced quickly across it to the safety of the rug in the hall, warm from the heater blowing hot air towards it. I grabbed a towel from the linen closet and headed to the bathroom, cringing as the cold tile made contact with my feet before I made it to the bath mat.

I turned the water on and shrugged out of a t-shirt from my old high school in Phoenix and the holey sweats I had taken to wearing to bed once more. Goosebumps rose over my skin as I put my hand under the water to test it. I frowned. Still cold. I turned to the counter to grab my hairbrush when I caught my reflection. My eyebrows darted up in surprise. My ribs hadn't always been visible like that. I brought one hand up to my waist. Instead of the soft layer of skin that I had remembered, I was met with the feeling of hard bone and insignificant amounts of muscle. I moved my hand down over what used to be a soft stomach, now nothing but taught skin, until I reached one of my too-pronounced hipbones.

I felt my stomach flip. How long had I been like this? I scrunched my eyebrows together, frowning deeply. It was rhetorical, of course, because I knew what must have caused this and exactly when it had started, but… how had I not noticed?

Had I really been so out of it that in the last six months, I hadn't realized _once_ that I had lost so much weight? Obviously I had. I sighed. Boiling hot steam was coming from the shower now, so I turned the knob a bit closer to the cold side until the water was a comfortable temperature and stepped in.

As I lathered my hair with shampoo, I thought of all the nervous glances Charlie had given me over the months, the look in Jacob's eyes every time I wrapped my frail stick arms around my miniscule waistline, the concern in Renee's emails, even the worry lines that Mike Newton got in his forehead when he saw me as we worked together. I had really gotten everyone on edge.

By the time I was done washing away the last bits of conditioner, soap, and shaving cream, I was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I had been so absorbed in my own misery that I had brought everyone else down with me. Jacob had been bringing me back to happiness, but now I was ready to start walking on my own two feet. I wasn't going to put anyone—especially not Jake or Charlie—through that kind of abuse again.

I dried off and wrapped a towel around myself before heading into my room to get dressed to go see Jacob.

-EDWARD-

I got to the airport in record time. Lucky for me, there was a flight headed to L.A. leaving in a half hour. It was still in the very early hours of the morning, before dawn, when I got there, giving me enough time to hop on a plane to Anchorage without being exposed to the sun.

It was less than a day's flight, but it felt like weeks. When I finally landed, I found Alice waiting for me, by herself, next to the baggage check. I quirked an eyebrow.

"Edward!" she sang, launching herself into my arms.

"Alice," I greeted. "Where's everyone else?"

"Oh, back at Tanya's." In her mind, she was reciting the U.S. Constitution.

I took a deep breath as we headed towards Carlisle's car. "Is it really that bad?" I asked in a strained voice. It was bad enough that they could only trust Alice to come and get me, to control her thoughts enough to keep me from running back to Rio.

We pulled onto the highway as she finished the Constitution before moving on to Shakespearean speeches. "It's not awful, but you're not going to like it," she said while accelerating the car closer and closer to and then past the one hundred miles per hour mark on the speedometer.

She gave me a sidelong glance. "You know, you smell awful. Promise me you'll shower before doing anything drastic."

"Drastic?" my voice had a hard edge to it.

Alice rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean anything by that. You're just a bit prone to overreaction, in case you hadn't noticed. There's no emergency, we just really need to talk." She scrunched up her nose. "An extra fifteen minutes to shower won't make a difference, but it was important that you come home now."

I frowned. "And you can't just tell me now?"

"It's a family affair, Edward. Everyone else wants to put their say into this, too."

"Right. But what _is_ this, Alice? What the hell _is_ it?"

Alice grimaced and a quick image—my Bella, gaunt and empty-looking, with shadowed eyes, standing in the breeze with a tortured expression on her face—flickered through her mind before she snuffed it out with a '_No! Dammit. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears—'_

"Alice," I demanded. "What happened to her? What happened to—Bella?" My voice caught on her name before I was able to force it out, and my chest was filling up with pain.

"Nothing!" She said in a too-high voice. _'I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do—'_

"Tell me," I said in a low growl. Alice pretended to be overly interested in the trees zooming by our window at nearly three times the legal speed limit. An orange glow was beginning to emerge behind them. "Alice…."

She sighed in defeat. "Look, I promised that it wasn't awful, and it's not. Bella is fine right now."

"Right now?" My eyes narrowed.

"Yes. Physically, anyway." '_For the most part,_' she added subconsciously. "She's taken this as hard as you have, Edward. It's time to fix some things."

-BELLA-

When I pulled into Billy's rocky driveway, the light in the garage was on, and music was rumbling from within it. I hopped out of my truck and crunched my way across the gravel. As I approached, the music gradually became more distinct. I could make out the drums and guitars of a rock song.

Jacob's Rabbit was sitting outside, and in its usual place under the shelter of the garage was a light blue Honda. Its hood was popped up, and Jacob's voice was coming from beneath it, singing along to the music as he worked.

"So I took a big chance at the high school dance with a missy who was ready to playyy. Wasn't me she was foolin' 'cause she knew what she was doin' when she told me how to walk this way! She told me to walk this way, talk this waayy—" He was tapping his oversized feet on the ground to the rhythm. I suppressed the urge to burst into laughter.

"Aerosmith, Jake?_Really_?" I said with sarcasm.

Jake jumped in surprise and narrowly missed hitting his head on the inside of the hood. He smiled when he saw me. "Hey Bells! Sorry, I didn't hear you come in." He leaned down to give me a peck on the lips. "I'd give you a hug, but, uh…," he held out his grease-covered arms.

I laughed. "It can wait until after you clean up. What're you working on?"

"Emily's car. The engine's been stalling a bit lately, so Sam asked me to have a look at it. I think I've got it almost figured out."

I smiled. "All right. I'll wait until you're done." I grabbed a folded lawn chair from against the wall and set it up next to Emily's little car. Jacob went to turn the battered old radio off. "No, it's alright," I assured him. "You can leave it on."

His eyebrows raised. "Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh!" I said positively.

"You like my _wonderful_ singing voice that much?" He asked sarcastically with a wide grin.

"Oh, yes. Just promise me you won't be listening to that all day," I said, gesturing to the speakers from which Steven Tyler's voice was whining out of. "Aerosmith's all right, but I think I can only take them in moderate portions."

Jacob laughed. "Give me a break, my CD player's in my room, out here I'm stuck with my dad's old radio. Whatever's on is what I'm listening to."

"All right, all right," I said, laughing. "I'm sure you've got impeccable taste in music."

It only took about a half hour for Jacob to finish, during which time we chatted about homework we had left to do before vacation ended tomorrow.

"I've got a bit of English to do," he said. "_Pride and Prejudice_." His nose crinkled in distaste as my eyes brightened.

"Really? That's one of my favorites! I can definitely help you there. I've just got a bit of Calculus to study for."

Jacob lowered the hood down with a snap. "All done." I smiled and stood up, refolding the chair and placing it back against the wall. "I'm gonna go wash up, then we can go bring the car back to Emily's."

"'Kay, I'll wait out here." Jake smiled and leaned down for another peck on the lips before turning and disappearing around the corner of the garage.

--EDWARD--

We were five miles from Tanya's when Alice whipped out her tiny silver phone and began dialing.

"Hi, Jasper. We're almost there!" She sang. Jasper's voice rumbled on the other side of the line. "He's—"she glanced over to me and wrinkled her nose in distaste again. "He's… smelly." Jasper was laughing as I glared at Alice. "Third world countries can do that to you. See you in a few minutes!" She clicked the phone shut.

"Was it really necessary to give them a heads-up? I'll find out soon enough anyway. I won't go running away." _Well, actually, I might_, I thought. _Depending on what this is all about._ "Not without at least seeing them first," I amended.

Alice rolled her golden eyes as we approached the gate outside of Tanya's estate. She tapped a rhythm on the steering wheel with her fingers while the thick, decorative iron bars slid apart.

A few feet within the grounds, the voices of everyone's minds entered my head. Rosalie was thinking of how much prettier she was than Irina. Jasper was reading something on the proper way to roll sushi. Esme was worrying I would be angry. Carlisle was calmly thinking how glad he was that I was back. Emmett wanted to challenge me to a sparring match "once this was all over", and Tanya was thinking about how attractive she found me. I grimaced and quickly blocked her thoughts from reaching me.

Alice pulled up in front of the large Victorian-style manor. "Here we are!"

She leapt out of the car, slamming the door and sprinting up the steps as I stepped onto the pavement. The large wooden doors opened wide to reveal the smiling faces of Esme and Carlisle.

"Oh, Edward!" Esme swooped me into a hug. "Look at you, you're a mess. Come on, let's get you cleaned up. You can wear a pair of Carlisle's—"

"Not right now," I muttered, freeing myself of her grip and entering the foyer where everyone was waiting. "What the hell is going on? What happened to Bella?"

_Nothing, _said Rosalie's voice. _Alice just saw that she was thinking of jumping off a cliff, but she didn't actually do it. She totally overreacted._

"_What?_" I sent a furious glance at Rosalie.

Through Alice's mind I saw the same image of Bella I'd seen before in the car, only panned out to show her on the edge of a tall cliff, overlooking the sea. She sprung off in a dive, falling and falling—if my heart could beat, it would be racing—until she landed in the churning, violent water, disappearing beneath the waves and never resurfacing. Then the vision wiped clear, and Bella was back standing on the cliff again. She looked behind her like she'd heard something before turning to face the sea again. She said something, her lips shaping words I couldn't recognize—except for the last._ Edward_.

Panic and pain were tearing through me, coursing through the veins of my body like blood. Then I felt serenely blank.

"Dammit, Jasper, stop it," I hissed angrily. Jasper threw me an exasperated look for a moment before my real emotions came rushing back to me.

"Look, just… think about this calmly," Alice said, her expression sympathetic. "Bella obviously still feels something for you. I think you should try to patch things up with her."

"And we all—" Carlisle began.

"Not_all_," said Rosalie matter-of-factly.

Carlisle shot her a disapproving glance. "We agree. I know you wanted to do what was best for her, but if you've both been this upset for so long, maybe it wasn't the right thing."

I knew he was right. This had hurt me so deeply, for so long…. If it had hurt her even half—no, a quarter—of the amount it had hurt me, it wasn't worth it. I had messed up. And I had to set it right again.

"Okay," I agreed. "We'll go back to Forks."

Rosalie scowled as Emmett stepped forward with a brilliant smile on his face. "Good to have you back, brother." He sniffed. "You need a shower."

"Okay, I get it." I glared at him.

Alice danced over to me and started leading me up the staircase. "Come on, let's go get some of Carlisle's clothes for you to change into after you shower."

She ducked into the guest room Carlisle and Esme were using and began rummaging through the closet.

"Alice," I said quietly. "What's she doing now?"

Alice paused in her search for clothes and felt out with her mind. There was Bella, leaning against the side of a plastic garage. In front of her was a light blue Honda—who's car was _that_? Next to it on the floor was an open toolbox filled with dirty, greasy tools. A beat-up radio sat on top of an upside-down rusty tin bucket. She didn't seem to be doing anything in particular, but I noticed she didn't seem as upset as she had in Alice's other vision. Then, her head suddenly snapped in the direction of the garage door, a warm smile spreading across her face—when Alice's vision suddenly went black.

"What was that?" I demanded. "Why'd you stop?"

Alice went back to rummaging through Carlisle's clothes, picking out a light blue button-up shirt and a pair of plain black slacks.

"I didn't stop. The vision stopped itself."

"How is that _possible_?" Alice's visions had never malfunctioned before.

"I don't know," she frowned as she handed me the clothes. "It's… well, it's actually been happening a lot lately. But I know it's not me. It's Bella. Whatever Bella's been doing, I haven't been able to see most of it. I've seen her when she's at home, with Charlie, getting ready and things like that… but then she heads off somewhere, and the vision just goes away like it did just now. I don't know why."

"Something's got to be wrong…we're leaving as soon as I'm out of the shower, okay? It's a long drive and I'm not wasting any time." I headed into the bathroom, turned on the water, and hopped into the shower, without waiting for the water to warm up.

--JACOB--

"So Charlotte represents the typical woman of that time—she didn't marry for love, she married for security," Bella was explaining to me. "Elizabeth is a stronger character, because she turned down that same security Mr. Collins was offering her. She rejected what could have been the only offer she'd ever get just so that she could have a chance at true love. And then she turned down a much greater offer when Mr. Darcy first proposed, to stand up for her family and her ideals. She could have said yes, knowing she would be very well cared for financially, but she didn't."

"Mm-hm," I said, absentmindedly. I watched Bella's beautiful, full lips move as she talked. She really was gorgeous, though it seemed she had never realized it.

"And then when Lydia went off and married Mr. Whickham, they got into a fierce battle of pirates versus ninjas. And then they joined the Fellowship and Lydia turned into Sailor Moon. After defeating Darth Vader, she, Frodo, and Captain Planet joined forces to throw the ring into Mount Doom."

"Mm-hm."

"Jacob," she said in a scolding tone.

I blinked, my name bringing me back to reality. "What?"

"You're not listening to a word I'm saying."

I blushed a little, embarrassed to be caught. "Sorry, Bells. I guess I'm kind of tired." I yawned to emphasize my point. "We've been studying all day."

It was true. After we dropped off Emily's car, Bella made us some grilled cheese for lunch, and then we'd studied until it was time for her to start making dinner again. Billy invited Charlie over to eat, too, and the two of them had taken over the front room to watch a game after dinner. Bella and I were now in my room, with her sprawled out on my bed while I sat in the chair in front of my little desk that sat squashed into a corner. I glanced at my alarm clock and saw that it was already past seven-thirty.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Bella said, following my gaze to the clock. "I want to get a good night's rest before going back to school tomorrow." She stretched out a bit before lifting herself off my bed.

"All right," I said, slightly reluctantly. I didn't want her to leave—I never did—but she had a point. I had to get up extra-early tomorrow morning for my watch, too. I stood up and wrapped her in a great big hug. "Will you have time to hang out after school tomorrow?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah," she smiled at me, and I felt my heart swell. "Actually, I was hoping maybe we could ride the bikes. I think we'll both need some good reckless fun after spending the day at school."

"Sounds great," I said. "I get out before you, want me to meet you at your house?"

"Sure," she said, giving me a warm kiss on the lips. She met my eyes with a gentle stare.

"Bella," I murmured, brushing a loose strand of hair off of her face. "I love you."

"I love you too, Jake." The words were out of her mouth before she realized it, and an expression of surprise passed over her face as she heard herself. She looked down bashfully. "I really do," she added.

Ecstatic joy filled my body, and I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt and pulled her closer. "I know you do, Bells."

--ALICE--

It was about one o'clock when we reached our white house in the meadow. Jasper, Edward and I had taken the Jeep, Rosalie and Emmett took the convertible, and Carlisle and Esme had taken the Mercedes. Edward's car had remained here, covered in a sheet in the garage. We arrived first, with Edward's fast driving, shortly followed by Rosalie and Emmett. Carlisle was the only one of us who drove at a relatively human pace, so it was likely that they wouldn't be here for at least six hours. Still, the drive would probably take two days for a normal person, so it wasn't too bad.

"Bella will still be at school," I said to Edward, looking for a vision of her and seeing her sitting in class, taking notes. "We might as well start unpacking until she gets out."

We began bringing the boxes inside—each of us carrying as many that we could fit through the door. It was stuffy in the house—not that it really mattered, since we didn't _need_ to breathe, but it wasn't very pleasant—so Emmett headed over to the back wall to open the sliding glass doors. Suddenly he froze.

"Guys, come over here."

Edward, Jasper and, I walked over, looking around for a moment before Edward softly said, "No!"

I was confused, but then the breeze danced against my nose. My eyes widened. "That's not—"

"_Victoria,"_ he hissed, springing out the door to examine the trail. It wasn't very strong, and it smelled a few weeks old, but it was definitely there. "Dammit!" He kicked the cement back step, causing the corner of it to crack and crumble off. "Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!"

"It's all right, Edward. She's okay still, nothing happened," Jasper said calmly.

"No, it's not all right! While I left her alone, _Victoria_ was here. I left her vulnerable! What if—what if she was trying to get revenge for James? What if she came looking for me, but when she'd seen that we were gone, decided to get revenge on Bella instead?" He was grasping his hair tightly in his hands. "She could have been killed, and it would have been entirely my fault!"

"Edward," I said soothingly, placing an arm on his back. "She's fine." I searched for Bella again in my head, showing her walking down the school hallway in between classes, perfectly unharmed.

"What's Victoria doing?" he asked.

I concentrated, focusing on the feral face of the redheaded female. I saw her running through the woods somewhere, along the coastline. The forest in the background wasn't as thick as the ones down by La Push, though, so I was fairly certain she wasn't too close.

Edward frowned, but he seemed convinced she couldn't be too close, either. "I suppose that's the best we can ask for now. But I'm going to Bella's when school lets out."

There was a brief silence. "Well," said Emmett. "We'd better get back to unpacking. We've still got a good two hours to kill."

We shuffled back inside, setting boxes down in their respective rooms. By the time we had uncovered all the furniture and dusted and vacuumed off every surface, Bella had already been out of school for fifteen minutes, and Edward was practically jumping to get out of there.

"All right, let's get going!" I said, trying to cheer up the tense mood a bit.

"What do you mean, 'let's'?" Rosalie asked. "I'm not going."

I glared at her. "Nobody was going to make you. Emmett? Jasper?"

"I think I'd better stay here," Jasper said. "I don't want to make her uncomfortable…."

"Hell yeah, I'm going!" Emmett said, grinning. Rosalie scowled at him and glided upstairs.

"All right." I gave Jasper a quick hug before bounding over to the door. Edward escaped out of it first, taking off in a run into the woods towards Bella's house. Emmett and I followed close behind.

It wasn't far to Bella's, and it's not like we could really get tired anyway—but Edward suddenly came to a screeching halt when we were a few miles into the woods.

Almost instantly, I knew what made him stop. A strong, burning, musky smell—like a very hot spice, mixed with something I couldn't quite place, amplified a hundred fold—swarmed my nostrils and made me feel… nauseous, I assumed, though I couldn't be sure. "What _is _that smell?" I complained.

Emmett looked confused. "That's not—"

"It is," Edward growled. "_Werewolf._"


	6. Of Forests and Fluffernutter

**AN:** Okay, I TOTALLY meant for this to be the 'confrontation' chapter, but somehow all the events leading up to the confrontation ended up being long enough to make their own chapter. I couldn't decide to keep writing the confrontation scene as part of this chapter, or make it into its own… but I decided since you guys probably want me to hurry up and update already, that I'd post this as its own chapter. (Plus I love ending chapters with cliffhangers, and this one was just too good to let go.) The next chapter should be posted fairly soon. Read, enjoy, and review!

_You lock the door_

_And throw away the key_

_There's someone in my head,_

_But it's not me._

_**-Pink Floyd, 'Brain Damage'**_

**Chapter VI: Of Forests and Fluffernutter**

- BELLA - -

The day was surprisingly warm by the time I got out of school. I held my jacket in a bundle under my arm as I walked to my truck, the air feeling nice and refreshing against my arms. _It looks like it could almost be sunny_, I mused as I started up the engine and made my way home.

It was extremely nice weather for Forks, and I'd be spending the afternoon goofing off with Jacob. I smiled to myself. _And if I fall off the bike again, at least I won't get muddy._

As I pulled into the driveway, I was surprised to see Jacob's motorcycle rather than his Rabbit sitting there. Jake himself was sitting on the little bench on the front porch, though he stood up and made his way over to my truck as I pulled in.

"What's with the bike?"

"I figured since we're going to be riding them anyway, and it's so nice out… might as well take full advantage of the weather, you know?" he said, smiling as he helped me out of the cab. He reached down and kissed me softly on the lips before taking my backpack out of my hands.

"You don't need to take that, you know," I said, moving to take my bag back.

"I know, but what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't?" He grinned.

I rolled my eyes as I snapped the truck's door shut and made my way to the house. "Gentleman?" I asked, opening the front door. "And all this time I thought I was dating a _wolf_!"

"Oh, you are," he said, a glint shining in his eyes as we stepped inside. He let out an exaggerated growl and gently pressed me against the wall, laughing. "Little pig, little pig, let me in!"

I burst into hysterical laughter. "I already did!" I managed to gasp out between laughs.

The joyous expression on Jacob's face immediately dropped into a serious one. "Oh, well… in that case, I think this is where I'm supposed to eat you."

His wild grin spread back over his face as he bent down to bring his lips to where my neck met my shoulders. My heart thudded loudly in my ears as I felt his hot breath prickling my skin. Then, his lips were on my skin playfully brushing his lips, tongue, and teeth against my skin as he made ridiculous roaring and chomping noises. I squirmed and shrieked as he did so, giggles overtaking me once again.

"Jake! Jake, stop, that tickles!" I squealed between gasping laughter. "Jake, Jake, stop!"

He leaned back, laughing, before wrapping his arms around me and lightly kissing me. "Alright, let's get going. With your luck it'll start raining the moment we get out there."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Alright, just let me put my stuff upstairs," I said, taking my bag from his hands and headed towards the staircase. As I bounded up the stairs, I called back down. "Do you want a snack or anything before we go?"

"Do you really even have to ask?" I laughed and turned into my room.

--ALICE—

We'd only been running for half a mile when Edward stopped again. This time, though, I couldn't find a reason for it—and from Emmett's expression, he couldn't, either.

I looked at Edward and my eyes widened in alarm. He looked like someone had just given him a painful blow to the stomach. A mix of anger and anguish was playing across his features.

"Edward?" I said carefully. He blinked and managed to regain most of his composure.

"Bella's not alone, we might have to wait to talk to her," he said flatly.

I exchanged a look with Emmett. Edward was obviously hiding something. Emmett shrugged, and I nodded in response. It was probably best not to pry at the moment.

'_But I'll just find out sooner or later, anyway,'_ I thought.

Edward growled in response before taking off again. As Emmett and I followed, the werewolf scent grew stronger with every step towards Bella's house. '_That can't be good….' _We came to a stop about ten yards from the edge of the woods—a safe distance from the Swans' unusually sunny yard.

The smell was almost intolerable here and my stomach was doing twists in ways I couldn't remember having felt before. I thought distantly that maybe it wasn't so bad, not having my human memories, if that would mean remembering feeling sick like this….

Bella's house was in view, but as my eyes scanned the windows, she didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. '_She must be in the back, in the kitchen_,' I figured, reaching out for her with my mind. When nothing bounced back, my eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"I can't see her…," I murmured.

Emmett turned to me. "Couldn't have anything to do with whoever's with her, could it? Edward, who's she with?"

Edward didn't respond, his face contorted with concentration and disgust… he was lost in his thoughts. Or, rather, someone else's thoughts, I assumed.

"I don't know, that could be it…," I said, my eyes still roaming over Bella's yard. "Hey—is that a _motorcycle?_"

Emmett's attention immediately focused on where I was staring—there, slightly hidden behind Bella's truck and almost camouflaged with the dark forest in the background, was a black motorcycle.

Edward, on the other hand, was still not paying attention. His eyes remained unfocused, his body tense. One of his hands was resting against a tree trunk, and….

"Edward," I said as casually as I could. His black eyes snapped to mine and I involuntarily stepped back. I knew better, but geez, if looks could kill…. "Um, just…," I trailed off.

"If you don't let go of that tree, it's going to snap in two, man," Emmett stepped in.

He looked back to his hand, his fingers wrapped around part of the bark and crushing it to sawdust and splinters. He retracted his hand and five holes, the shape and size of his fingers, were drilled into the trunk.

Emmett let out a low chuckle.

"Oh, shut up," Edward hissed.

-- EDWARD --

When the voice enters my mind, it's sitting in Charlie's kitchen, thinking about Bella. Bella blushing, Bella's soft hair, Bella behind this mystery person on a motorcycle, squeezing him tight with her delicate little arms. …Him. It's a him.

The thought that there is a boy—possibly a man, sitting in Bella's kitchen thinking about her distracts me so much that I haven't realized that I've stopped moving until Alice says something. I mutter something back at her and start moving again as Bella enters the kitchen and smiles at the voice.

"So, what do you want? I think we've got some Oreos, or we could make peanut butter sandwiches...," she's smiling and she looks genuinely happy. A pain twists in my heart—even though I'm glad she's not miserable, glad she hasn't become what I have, it still hurts to see that she doesn't need me. She's comfortable with this voice, this _him_, and I'm not comfortable with that.

The _him_ stands up and joins her at the counter—and he's enormous. Suddenly I am looking down at Bella from half a foot higher than I'm used to. So he must be a man, then, and my anger and jealousy skyrocket. It's a good thing Jasper didn't come. My arm—his arm—reaches for the bread on the counter. He's got dark, coppery skin and much more muscle than the average teenage guy. Dammit. "Sandwiches are good," he says. His voice is smooth and deep, and I can't recognize it. Bella turns to the cabinet to get out the peanut butter and the marshmallow fluff—_of course it's Fluffernutter, she hates peanut butter mixed with jelly_, the voice is thinking, but he's also admiring Bella's form while he thinks so, and I want to rip this stupid little human's head off.

They make their sandwiches—Bella has one, Stupid Human Guy has four. '_Pig,'_ I think to myself. Bella goes to put their plates in the sink, but Stupid Human Guy notices something. _She's got marshmallow on her lip._

"Bells," he says. '_Bells?'_ My mind rages. '_Bells?! Who the hell is he to call her that? She only likes "Bella", what kind of moron—'_

"Yeah?" she responds. '_What, she's not even going to correct him?' _

And then the Stupid Human Guy swoops down and kisses her. Kissing Bella. My Bella. With his _tongue_. Then he gently licks away the marshmallow and—

"Edward?" Alice's tinkling voice interrupts me and points out that I'm about to squeeze a tree in half. I move my hand and tell Emmett to shut up because now he's laughing and there could not possibly be a worse time to laugh.

The Stupid Human Guy breaks away from Bella after a moment that is much too long and my heart breaks at the sight of her content look. No shock, no anger….

"I love you," says the Stupid Human. If my heart was beating, it would stop.

Bella smiles and blushes and says, "I love you, too," and for the first time in almost ninety years, I feel like vomiting violently. She loves him. A stinging numbness overtakes my body and I stop breathing.

_The pack won't ever leave me alone about that_, thinks the voice. _I can just picture Paul cracking jokes about fluff now…but it was worth it_….

The pack. Images of half-dressed, huge Quileute boys flood my mind (_his _mind) and suddenly, everything falls into place. The smell in the woods, this guy's copper skin and enormous height… the Quileutes have a werewolf pack again. _And this bastard is part of it._

"He's a werewolf," I growled and Alice and Emmett simultaneously thought, '_What?!'_ "Bella is in there with a _werewolf_."

Their eyes widened. "Should we leave?" Alice asked.

I stared at her incredulously. "You expect me to just leave her alone with werewolf? Don't you remember anything Carlisle's said about them?! They're the most temperamental, dangerous—"

"If we stay here, it could start a war," she says. "I know it's not safe to leave Bella with him, but if he's been around her as much as it smells like, he hasn't hurt her so far."

I frowned. "That doesn't mean he still can't hurt her!"

"But if we stay here and he finds us, he's definitely going to transform, won't he?" Emmett asked. "So that would just put Bella in more danger."

"…You're right, but it's too late now. The second he steps out the door, he'll catch our scent. It's better to just confront him straight out and make it clear we don't mean any harm…."

The werewolf was pulling Bella closer, pressing her against the wall, kissing her again, his hands drifting along her sides, then his fingers were playing along the bottom edge of her shirt…. And then he was imagining lifting her shirt off, the two of them naked, his hand running up and down the side of her thigh, and Bella looking up at him with a shy but lustful expression. I couldn't remember how long it had been since I'd wanted to murder someone so badly—it was worse than the time Bella had gotten lost in Port Angeles…. To make things worse, I couldn't tell if this was entirely a fantasy of his or something that had already been played out in reality. I was positively seething with emotion when Bella pulled away.

"We should get going," she said with a hint of regret in her voice. "We don't want to waste this nice day inside, you know?"

_I'd be fine wasting every day inside if it meant kissing you like that_, the werewolf's smug thoughts sounded. "Yeah, I guess. Let's get going then," he said, taking Bella's hand and leading them towards the door.

I tensed. "They're coming out now," I said softly. Alice and Emmett both straightened up and fixed their eyes on Charlie's front door.

--BELLA—

We had just stepped out the door when Jacob's entire body tensed up.

"What is it?" I asked cautiously.

"Vampire," he hissed, his eyes narrowed and scanning the area frantically.

Panic sent my heart flying into my throat. "Is it Victoria?"

Jake's nostrils flared as he took a sharp breath. "No, I don't think so… but I think there's more than one…."

My eyes widened. One was bad enough, but multiple vampires against just Jacob…. "Should I go back inside? Should we call Sam?"

Jake considered for a moment before replying. "No, going inside won't do any good. There's too many ways for them to get in…." He wrapped a protective arm around me and, his eyes never leaving the forest, guided me over to a spot where two of the walls of the house met together, and positioned me in the back corner, the walls forming a protective 'V' on either side of me. Then he stood, looking like he was ready to spring into action at any moment, closely in front of me, shielding me from whatever might be coming.

My hands nervously grasped the fabric of the back of his t-shirt, which seemed to remind him that he was wearing it. He deftly pulled it off, leaving it hanging in my hands, and kicked off the sandals we'd bought for him together.

"Come out!" he said loudly in a strong, confident voice. "I know you're there!"

I was shivering with nervousness, but fought back the temptation to cling to Jacob in fear—if he had to fight, I didn't want to get in his way. Suddenly, Jacob's head snapped to a spot in the woods to the right of us, and what I saw there voided my lungs of air.

Edward.


	7. Vertebrate

**AN: Oh man, guys. Exams suck. I've had most of this written in my notebook for weeks but I haven't been able to type it up until now. I know you guys must get tired of my apologies, but again, I'm sorry this took so long. I'd much rather spend my days writing fanfiction, but school has to come first. I could have rushed it and updated with something less than satisfactory, but I'd much rather give you guys something actually worth reading. Now that that's all out of the way… surprise, surprise! This whole chapter is in Bella's point of view. My writing doesn't have multiple personality disorder for once! And sorry if the epigraph makes you want to roll your eyes—I don't listen to the radio, I heard this song online, and I honestly had no idea it was overplayed until a few days ago. But it fits the chapter well, so I'm leaving it. And now, finally… chapter seven! Enjoy, everyone!**

_I'd take another chance, _

_Take a fall,  
Take a shot for you  
And I need you like a heart needs a beat,  
But it's nothing new  
I loved you with a fire-red  
Now it's turning blue,_

_And you say "sorry" like the angel_

_Heaven let me think was you  
But I'm afraid  
It's too late to apologize, it's too late  
I said, it's too late to apologize, it's too late…_

_**--OneRepublic, 'Apologize'**_

**Chapter VII: Vertebrate **

Edward. He was here. He was standing only a few yards from me, just next to the entrance of the path where he had abandoned me so many months ago. Somewhere in my mind I noted that he looked almost… _shabby. _Or at least what would be considered shabby as far as the Cullens went. But I didn't spend time on these details, as my eyes almost immediately locked onto his, as though if I looked away, he would disappear. And maybe he would. Maybe this was just another hallucination, I thought for a fleeting moment, panicking. But then why would Jacob be acting this way? No, this had to be the real thing. The hole in my chest ached, on the verge of tearing open again.

His eyes were black as pitch, the dark purple circles around them intensified by the shade of the trees he was standing under. And they held the most pained expression I had ever seen.

I'm not sure how long we stood like that. It was probably just minutes, or maybe even seconds, but it felt as if it could have been an eternity. A small voice in my head laughed sardonically, because had things played out differently, I really _could_ have stared at him for an eternity.

The air was brimming with tension and emotion, but nobody spoke. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed that Emmett and Alice were suddenly behind Edward, and though I wanted to acknowledge them, my gaze remained unbroken.

Finally, Edward spoke.

"Bella…," his voice whispered quietly.

I tried to say something, I tried to force words—I didn't know what words, any words, it didn't matter so long as I said something—out of my mouth, but my vocal chords would not cooperate. My mouth moved helplessly, releasing nothing but breath.

"What the hell do you want?" Jacob growled menacingly. His body had gone slack at first, in shock, but he had quickly tensed back up, shaking slightly, and fallen into a stance that clearly stated he was ready to fight.

Edward glanced at Jacob, considering him for a moment, as if he was unsure how to respond. "I'd like to talk to Bella," he said finally.

"What _for_?" Jake seethed. "You've already done your damage and I'm sure as hell not letting you do any more!"

Suddenly, Edward recoiled and his face crumpled in pain. But why? My head cocked to the side in confusion.

"Stop it," his velvet voice said. "I _know_. You don't need to show me."

There was a moment of silence. "_Oh_," Jacob said in understanding. Then he let out a callous bark of laughter. "Right. You can read minds. Well, if you don't like it, you can just leave," he said smugly. "Though I don't see why you would care…."

"…No, I suppose you wouldn't." Edward's eyes turned back to mine. "Bella…." He hesitated. "I'm sorry. I am so unbelievably, inexpressibly sorry. In all one hundred and five years of my existence, I have never behaved so foolishly. What I did to you… leaving you was the biggest mistake I've ever made. Bella… I love you."

As the words left his mouth, I was sinking. Suddenly the world seemed too big, too tall—it was too confusing too fast. He loved me? But he left me. He couldn't love me. Why would he leave if he loved me? Distantly, I heard a raspy, gasping noise, accompanied by an odd rustling, and wondered where it was coming from.

"LEAVE!" Jacob roared, shuddering from head to toe.

"You don't want to do that so close to her," a lilting voice warned. My eyes tore away from Edward after a second's hesitation, and slowly slid over to the owner of that voice. Alice… I'd already forgotten she was there.

"_I_ would never hurt her," Jake replied icily.

"Bella?" Edward said gently. I glanced back to him and tried to speak again, but nothing came out. Then Jacob stooped down in front of me, blocking Edward from view, and gently cupped my face in his hand, snapping me out of my stupor. I realized I was kneeling on the ground and my body was shaking in uncontrollable convulsions. The gasping noises were my quiet sobs, the rustling was my clothes against the wall of the house. I clenched my mouth shut to stop the sobs, but I couldn't stop the tremors coursing through my body.

"Bells," Jake was whispering, grabbing my hand with his free one and squeezing it tightly.

My mouth opened and closed a few times before finally making a noise. "I…," my voice cracked. "I… don't…. I don't understand," I said weakly.

A shimmering of light broke out from behind Jacob, causing him to turn around, and Edward entered my line of vision once again, sparkling in the bright sunlight. "I love you," he said slowly and sincerely.

I closed my eyes as if the sight of him pained me, and felt a few hot tears squeeze out between my eyelids as I did so. This wasn't fair. Months I had waited wanting nothing more than to see him again, just once more, and after I had finally accepted that he wasn't coming back, he shows up again? What…what kind of world was this? After I chose Jake… after I passed the point of no return….

"_Why_?" I opened my eyes and stared up at him. "Why would you… why would you come back and tell me that now? Why _now_?"

Edward looked at me, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Because Alice saw you trying to kill yourself," Emmett said, cutting into the silence. Jacob looked back at me, confused and horror-struck, and gripped my hand even tighter. Alice let out a sigh and glared at Emmett. "What? It's true!"

"What are you talking about?" I breathed, utterly baffled.

Alice looked at me sadly. "I saw you about to jump off that cliff…."

Understanding swept through me—and apparently Jacob, because he had relaxed his hold on me a bit—but Alice continued. "And I knew this whole thing had gone too far, we had to do something… it took a while to get a hold of Edward, but we got here as fast as we could…."

"I wasn't trying to kill myself."

Alice's expression became disgruntled. "Bella, I saw you. You were going to jump off the cliff—I had a vision of you jumping and never coming back up. You were going to do it, but you stopped and said Edward's name."

Jacob's hand was tight around mine again, and a lump had formed in my throat. That wasn't something I'd wanted him to know. "I wasn't trying to kill myself," I repeated. "I was just going to cliff-dive."

"_Cliff-dive?_" Alice asked incredulously. "You expect me to bel—"

"She's telling the truth," Jacob said, his voice fighting to stay calm. He slowly got up, gently pulling me with him and standing with one arm wrapped around me protectively, almost as if he were physically daring Edward to not get any closer. "We were going to go cliff-diving. People do it all the time at La Push. So, false alarm, you can leave now."

Alice looked at him curiously. "That may be so, but you weren't in my vision. Bella was alone, no one else in sight."

"I wasn't trying to kill myself! I was going to jump alone because Jake was busy, but that doesn't mean I was trying to commit suicide!"

"Bella…," Alice began, but was interrupted by Edward.

"No, it's okay," he said, his face relaxed slightly. "She doesn't need to explain her reasons if she doesn't want to. She doesn't owe anyone an explanation. Especially not me." He was staring at me again, and I felt as though his gaze could see right through me. I shivered involuntarily despite the heat radiating from Jacob right next to me. "I owe _you _an explanation, Bella." He glided forward, standing only a few feet from where I stood.Jacob's eyes narrowed and he moved to be in front of me. I was surprised to find that next to Jacob, Edward looked small. Jake stood towering over him, dark and masculine and imposing, with a fierce expression, while Edward was unassuming and blindingly bright, throwing rainbows of sunlight. Next to Edward, Jacob looked like he could positively terrifying. The contrast was so stark it was almost comical—as if Edward weren't some virtually indestructible vampire, but some mere human that Jake could squash.

Edward opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly I was blurting out words. "I don't know if I want to hear it." He looked taken aback, and I was surprised at myself. "I…," I trailed off, closing my eyes and swallowing hard. "I waited for so long for you to come back. I can't… I can't really even remember anything from the first four months afterwards…except for nightmares," I whispered, and my eyes opened, but I kept them to the ground. "I waited _so long_," I said again. "And when I finally start to move on, you _come back_? That's… that's just not _fair_! Why would you come back now, after I've already decided to be with Jake?"

Pain tore across Edward's face, and he opened his mouth to say something before Emmett cut him off.

"But he's a werewolf!" He said, pointing one burly arm at Jacob.

I blinked. "…I know that."

The three of them all looked genuinely surprised, and Edward's expression was uncharacteristically disgruntled and resentful.

I frowned. "What? Don't be ridiculous, Edward." I let out a shaky, hollow laugh. "When has being a… a… _mythical _being ever stopped me from caring about someone?"

"Werewolves are dangerous, Bella," he whispered.

Jacob laughed. "And you bloodsuckers aren't?"

Edward's eyes glinted dangerously. "As a whole, perhaps we are. However, it's a matter of control. We're not driven by things as petty as emotions. Your pack, however, seems to be. Do you want Bella to look like _Emily?_" I gasped, half in surprise that he knew about Emily, half in shock that he would deal such a low blow.

Jacob grimaced. "I would _never_ hurt her. Never. And I haven't lost control since the first time I phased," he added.

"That can always change. You never know. Sam never thought he'd hurt Emily. Emotions are unpredictable and impossible to truly control."

"Stop it, Edward," I hissed. "You're being hypocritical. You might not be driven by emotions, but you're ruled by the physical need for blood. Especially for me," I whispered. "You were always telling me how dangerous you were to me, remember? Jacob didn't want to kill me the first moment he _smelled _me."

A pang of guilt flickered across his features, and the hole in my chest ached for him. That was a below the belt and I knew it. Why was I doing this? Was I really this bitter of a person?

I couldn't bear to see the look on his face, so I quickly changed the subject. "What is it that you wanted to tell me, Edward?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "…I'm sorry I left," he said, opening his black eyes and staring at me intently. "I was trying to keep you safe. I made us leave because I thought it would be better for you if you weren't around a huge coven of vampires every day. You know how dangerous it can be," his voice hinted at a hidden meaning—probably the accident I'd had with Jasper. "It killed me to do it. I wanted you to continue being human, despite how it made me feel without you. If you knew how I'd been existing for the last few months….."

"If you loved me so much, why did you leave? Didn't you… didn't you realize it would be the same for me?"

"I thought you would move on… I was right," he said softly with a glance at Jacob.

I sucked in a deep breath. "You don't know how hard it was," I whispered. "It wasn't like I just got up the next morning and was just fine…. If it hadn't been for Jacob, I'd…," my voice trailed off helplessly.

"Well then… thank you, for taking care of her," Edward said in a sincere velvet voice, with sharp nod in Jacob's direction.

Jacob looked positively baffled. "I didn't do it for _you_, I did it for _her,_" he said, pulling me tighter. "Now you've said sorry. Why don't you leave?" his voice growled.

The hole in my chest was slowly ripping open again. I didn't know if I wanted Edward to leave. How could I let him disappear into the forest again? I could feel myself begin to take in breaths faster and faster…his black eyes were locked onto my brown ones again.

"I'm glad you're okay, Bella. Even if you aren't quite leading the human life I'd hoped you would be." Jacob pulled me so close I was practically fused into his side.

"What did you expect me to _do_? How could you think I would just… _move on_? Didn't you… didn't you _know _how much I loved you? How… how much I still do?" I dissolved into sobs, my breath coming in shaky bursts. Jacob's arm squeezed me so tight it hurt. _I know_, I thought. _I didn't want to hurt you, but I had to say it._

A glimmer of happiness danced in Edward's eyes. "Bella, I thought—I didn't think you cared for me as deeply as it seems you did. I thought you were more… enchanted with the idea of being immortal than you were about being with me," he whispered.

I swallowed and a few more tears streamed down my cheeks as I took a step forward, letting Jacob's arm fall off my waist. And then another step. And another. Emotions were sweeping through me in waves. Confusion—how in the world could he think I didn't love him? Sadness—what did I do to make him think that? And, finally, anger—_how could he think I was just in it for the immortality?_ Jacob's warmth was near again, and one of his arms was curling itself around my shoulder. He was tense and clearly not comfortable with us standing a foot away from his mortal enemy.

"You… I—," I was shaking again, this time not with fear, but with a painful anger I had never felt before. "You _left me_ because you thought I didn't love you?" I blinked away more tears. "You thought I just wanted to be a vampire? I—there would be no _point_ to eternity without you!" My hands clenched into tight fists. "I only wanted to be changed so that I could be with you! And you just thought that I was some girl with… with a Peter Pan complex?!" I screamed, my voice echoing through the trees as the emotions just became too much to handle, and I lurched forward, closing the space between us.

I flung my fists at Edward's chest with what little strength I could muster. It felt like hitting a brick wall, like falling onto pavement again and again. The pain brought more tears to my eyes and I was probably giving myself bruises, but I couldn't bring myself to care. "How could you? How _could_ you?" I sobbed, beating my fists against him. "You… you _jerk!_" I was distantly aware that I was in complete and utter hysterics, and that Jacob was trying his best to pull me back without hurting me, but all that mattered was getting this out. I hit him again and again, the muscles in my arms aching for me to stop—which just made me hit harder. I wasn't weak. I _wasn't._

Suddenly, my hands were frozen in place. Edward's cool fingers circled my wrists like handcuffs. Another cry left my lips as I tried to force my way out of his grip, but he didn't let go.

"You're hurting yourself, Bella," he whispered. He brought my hands to his lips and kissed them softly. The touch sent jolts through my body and I crumbled against his chest. He released his hold on my arms and my hands immediately clung to his shirt, fingers curling around the fabric.

"Why did you leave?" My voice was weak and hoarse from crying. I sounded pathetic, which only made me cry harder, soaking the cotton of Edward's shirt with a river of tears.

Edward's arms moved to wrap around my waist at the same moment Jacob's warmth left me. There was a loud tearing noise and suddenly, a gigantic, furry brown head was throwing Edward back towards the trees. Jacob had phased, and he was standing in front of me, his back arched defensively. An impossibly deep bass growl was emanating from his throat.

Edward hadn't allowed Jacob to throw him off-balance, but he still lingered further away than he seemed to have liked. "Don't be ridiculous," he muttered, before a confused look crossed over his face. "Well, that's interesting," he said softly, and Jacob drew his lips back over his sharp teeth, growling louder.

"Jake," I said, placing my hand on the thick, warm fur of his arm—or leg. "It's okay."

He turned his head to me—I had to look up to see his eyes, even with him on all fours. He was giving me a look that plainly said he didn't think it was okay. I moved closer to give him a comforting hug, but he suddenly froze, the deep growls cutting off sharply before starting up again. He turned back to Edward and let out a bark that almost sounded like a shout.

Edward's eyes were already focused on Jacob and he nodded. "Alice, you stay here with Bella." Jacob snarled, and Edward gave him an exasperated look. "Alice is perfectly capable of protecting her, and I'm not leaving her alone. Do you have a better idea?" He paused. "I didn't think so."

"What's going on?" I asked nervously, my heart beginning to race faster. "Why does Alice need to…?"

"…Victoria's here. The pack just got on to a fresh trail. We're going to stop her." No. Oh, no no no. Not Victoria. Not here. Not near Forks, not near the pack…. Jacob shouted a bark once more. "We're going after her too, dog, there's nothing you can do to stop that. She's more our responsibility than yours."

I was shaking again, clinging to Jacob's enormous leg for support. This was too much.

"It'll be okay, Bella," Edward said gently. "She's completely outnumbered." He turned to Emmett. "Let's get going," he said, pulling out his cell phone. "Carlisle," he began before slipping into a low, quick murmur that I couldn't catch.

Jacob leaned his head down and nuzzled the side of my face gently. More tears welled up in my eyes and my fingers were knotting themselves tightly into his fur. "Be careful," I whispered. He let out a laughing snort and licked the side of my face before turning to Edward as if he were waiting for something. It took me a moment to realize he wasn't trusting Emmett and Edward to be left alone with me.

Edward sighed and nodded. "Okay. Don't worry, Bella," he said.

Emmett grinned at me. "Chill out, Bella. We'll all be fine."

I nodded dumbly as Alice drifted over to my side and held my hand secruely in hers.

"We won't be gone long. I love you," Edward said with a small, crooked smile and a sad, wistful look in his eye. Part of me was screaming to reach out to him and cling on to him, begging him not to leave again. But then he and Emmett were turning, taking off into the woods in a blur, Jacob darting in after them. I stood staring after them until Alice gently shook me.

"Bella?" she said cautiously.

I turned my head to her and looked down into her amber eyes for a moment before collapsing in sobs onto her tiny shoulder. Her slender, cold arms wrapped around me and her hands soothingly rubbed my back.

"Everything will turn out fine. No one's going to get hurt," she assured me. But her voice was laced with an uncertainty I had never heard from her before, and I just cried harder.


	8. All is Fair

EDWARD

AN: Well, it's only been two and a half months since I updated.. This chapter is for Clare. Without her, it would have been a much longer wait. A bit short, but the next chapter should make up for that. Uh, there's a good handful of swearing in this one.

**VIII:** **All is Fair…**

_  
I fought in a war, and I didn't know where it would end  
It stretched before me infinitely, I couldn't really think  
Of the day beyond now, keep your head down, pal,  
There's trouble plenty in this hour, this day  
I can see hope I can see light…_

_--Belle and Sebastian_

EDWARD

'Damn. Damn, damn, damn, _damn_!' The wolf's thoughts cursed on an endless loop. 'Just fucking _great_. First the fucking Cullens show up out of nowhere and now we've got the redhead on our ass, too? Fucking _peachy_.'

'Calm down, Jacob,' the pack's Alpha was saying. 'At least they're helping, we should be able to get rid of the redhead with no problem. This will all be over soon… just watch your back,' he added seriously.

I snorted. "If we wanted to kill you, we'd have done it already when you were further away from your pack. We're not pulling anything on you."

'You can't really expect us to _trust_ you,' Jacob spat back.

I pursed my lips to suppress an amused smirk. "No, I suppose not."

As unfortunate as it was that there were werewolves around, it was quite interesting to experience their conjoined thoughts. When Carlisle had first made the treaty with the previous pack, there had only been the three of them, and they were all older; much more experienced than this pack and able to control their thoughts better

To be honest, I found it surprising that they all could handle it so easily. I'd nearly gone insane after my change with everyone's voices in my head. Then again, the werewolves' abilities had given me quite a shock in several ways, so perhaps I wasn't giving them enough credit. I was most impressed by their speed. Jacob Black was bounding along side me, his snout actually a bit ahead of me. He was much faster than Emmett. Then, there was the fact that there were five wolves already—and apparently expecting one more to join soon. It was rather unnerving. We'd thought all the wolves had died out, why was there suddenly a huge pack? It made no sense.

'Almost there,' Jacob said.

'Stop,' came the Alpha's voice. 'Jared thinks he might have picked up the trail of another one, but it was too faint to tell. It might've hidden in the river. The trail was short, on the side of the road… someone dropped it off in a car. We're circling the female, I want you to go around us and make sure she doesn't have a friend who's going to surprise us.'

'Right,' Jacob said, turning and slowing down his pace to a quiet lope. He turned his head to look at me. 'Hey, bloodsucker. Can you hear the mind of the other leech?'

I felt my lips twist into a small smirk at his choice of words and concentrated on trying to hear the mind of the other vampire, with no luck.

"No," I said. "If they're more than a few miles away, I can't hear them. They could be waiting just outside my range, though. They'd still be able to hear her if she screamed loud enough to come and help her and be here in a minute."

'Great. Good to know you're so useful,' Jacob snorted, but regained his composure as the pack began to close in around Victoria. He took off towards the river to scrounge around for the other vampire. I looked to Emmett.

"Let's see if we can find anything else. Maybe the dogs missed something." Emmett nodded and we took off in the direction opposite of Jacob. The pack's voices entered my head once again a few minutes later, through the Alpha this time, and a few moments after that, Victoria's. Her mind was flowing with thoughts of Bella—snapping her neck, throwing her around and beating her first, tearing her teeth into the soft, white skin of her neck. I growled, pushing myself faster to find this other vampire quickly so I could go back and destroy _her_.

The pack was beginning their attack. One of them snapped at her legs from in front while another was waiting behind her, and the other two were off to each of her sides, hidden in the trees. She would try to sidestep the two in the open, and when she did, one of the others would ambush her. It was a decent plan, but after seeing how skeptical they were, I wasn't so sure. A few moments later, though, they were well into the fight and had the upper hand. Soon her body was in pieces, her voice yelling out in an awful screech. Seconds later, another person's thoughts entered my head. It was the other vampire, and he was rushing straight towards the scream—but he would run into Jacob first.

"Shit," I swore uncharacteristically, the word slipping out of my mouth. "Jacob, _move!_" I bellowed, hoping one of the other wolves' keen ears would be able to pick it up above the noise coming forth from Victoria. I shot off in his direction, but the new vampire—a stocky male, from what I could tell—was launching himself towards him.

'_Fuck, _guys! There was another one. Shit, shit, shit,' Jacob swore mentally as he agilely dodged the new vampire's blows.

'We'll be there soon. Jared, Embry, go!' the Alpha's voice was ordering. Jacob pounced on top of the vampire, his teeth going for the neck, as Emmett and I stepped into the clearing. Jacob's head snapped around to look at us, thinking we were more of Victoria's comrades, and in that moment, the young vampire under him took advantage of his distraction and forcefully threw him off, slamming his body into a huge tree, causing it to shudder violently. Jacob let out a loud yelp before crumbling to the ground, leaving behind a deep indent in the tree trunk. He moved as if to get up before letting out a small whimper and falling back down.

'_Damn._'

'Shit, Jacob! We'll be there in a second,' one of his pack mates was saying as I fixed my gaze on this new vampire, sorting through his mind as fast as possible. His name was Riley, Victoria had seduced him and changed him in Seattle. He seemed to have strong feelings for her, and he was furious. He went to go land another hit on Jacob, but my arm darted out and grabbed his wrist.

"Hello," I murmured softly. "How are you doing today?" I grabbed his other arm before he had a chance to pull away. "Good, I hope, because I'm afraid it's the last day you'll ever see."

Emmett came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. "Don't worry, man. This won't hurt too much."

ALICE

It had taken a lot of persuasion to get Bella inside. And by persuasion, I really mean that I had to lift her up and carry her indoors, setting her down on the couch. She was shaking, her eyes unfocused.

"Um… I'll go make you some hot chocolate." I went into the kitchen, remembering where Charlie kept the cocoa mix and the mugs and reading the instructions on the back of the cocoa can to make sure I remembered correctly. While the cocoa was warming in the microwave, I leaned against the frame of the doorway to the living room and studied her.

"Bella," I said gently, and she jumped a bit at the sound of my voice. "Don't worry, okay? Everything will be alright." She nodded dumbly. I sighed as the timer went off and went to take the cocoa out of the oven, returning to her a few seconds later and gently coaxing it into her hands.

She didn't even bother looking at the warm mug in her hands, she just sat there, unmoving, with a terrified look on her face. I wondered if this was how she'd been since September and shuddered at the thought. I grabbed the remote control from the coffee table and clicked the television on. Bella paid no notice.

"Drink it, Bella."

She mechanically moved the mug to her lips and took a sip. She put it back down, holding it in both hands and staring down into it.

"I'm so stupid," she murmured.

I frowned and sat beside her, laying my hand on her arm, the cold touch making her jump. "Bella, it's not your—"

"Yes it is. It's my fault for getting involved with things I should have been oblivious to. It's my fault Victoria's been killing people, my fault the pack has been risking their lives, and _now_ it's my fault that Edward and Emmett are risking theirs."

"Bella, nobody's going to get hurt," I said softly. Of course, I couldn't be sure—I couldn't see where they were or what would happen, but… "If Edward and Emmett are there, Victoria doesn't have a chance. And—how many werewolves are there?"

"Five," she said glumly.

"Then they'll be fine. One vampire against two others and _five_ werewolves? It'll take seconds." I laid a comforting hand on her back. "They'll all be fine."

Bella sat staring blankly into space while I pretended to watch the television, really waiting for the moment when I could see anything going on with Edward. I got a few brief glances of him and Emmett running through the woods, but for nearly a half hour, that was it. Then, suddenly I saw Edward running back towards Charlie's and Emmett, on his cell phone, running towards our house.

"Edward's coming back now," I said, and Bella stood up so quickly that drops of now cold cocoa flew from her only half-empty mug and splattered on the floor. She haphazardly placed it down on the coffee table and darted through the house and out the door with a speed and grace I hadn't thought she was capable of. I followed after her to where she was waiting by the woods, one hand nervously playing with the edge of her shirt while the other arm was securely wrapped around her middle. She looked like she was falling apart at the seams.

"It's _okay_, Bella," I said softly, but she remained just as nervous and jumpy as she had been.

A few minutes later, Edward stepped through the trees, his face set in a stony expression. Bella paled and looked as if she might pass out. I placed my hand on her back, steadying her.

"What happened?" I asked apprehensively.

"Victoria's dead," he said before hesitating. "She had a friend with her. We got him, too, but…." He took a deep, unnecessary breath. "Jacob got hurt. Carlisle's on his way now, he's headed straight for the reservation. He'll survive, but—"

Bella wasn't listening. She swayed for a moment and then suddenly, it was as if she had snapped back into reality and she was quickly turning on her heel, running for the driveway.

"Bella! He'll be fine, he's just—we can bring you—just take your truck!"

"Not fast enough," she said, mostly to herself and too quiet for a normal human to hear from our distance. She was hopping on Jacob's motorcycle, and after failing once, she managed to kick it on successfully and she tentatively started moving at a slow pace down the drive, testing herself before accelerating and speeding down the street.

I exchanged a glance with Edward before we both sprinted for the forest, myself towards our home and him to La Push.


End file.
